Just a Couple of Drinks
by WishStone
Summary: The TV world has grown much quieter since 2011. By 2012, during the summer of their second year, the Investigation Team only stops by to visit for checkups. And it's here where Rise finally loses her patience with her two best friends. She needs to do something about them. But she may end up overshooting her target. Please note: M for Mature; Explicit content.
1. Summer Love

_What ever possessed me to actually go ahead with this?!_

 _Oh, yes, my wonderful and terrible influence, Ikasury, here at FFN. Shutout time: I've grown to heavily rely on her input on my main fic and I'm sure my stuff is shaping up much better thanks to her involvement._

 _And thanks to us chatting a lot, more than one fluff-fic has been spun up (and I still have some prompts from her kicking about). As for this one - here's what happened:_

 _She and I had this discussion on Naoto and her personality traits, particularity when it comes to her interactions with Kanji being a bit prickly at times. It lead me to dubbing her "Detective Pineapple." The term stuck immediately and was very lovingly used by both of us for days._

 _Days after that initial christening - Ikasury: "Ps: Naoto, detective pineapple! spiky on the outside, sweet and juicy on the inside! err... wait... x.X *Kanji dies* XD"br /_

 _Some days later, Ikasury: "... and yes, our 'leafy' pineapple needs to head out and search for things~ like i dunno, a coconut? would that work for Kanji? big, hard, soft on the inside with delicious milk and-GODAMNIT! FRUIT! x.x *Naoto passes out*"br /_

 _So, after making both Kanji and Naoto pass out from severe blood loss, my take on the situation was: "XD Ace Detective Pineapple... and our thick-headed Cokanji... Man, now I HAVE to put the Piña Colada together. You realize that, I hope. "_

 _I think the original intent was to make it crack. Then we pondered straight-up lemon. Aaaaaaand then I started to get my hands on it and the plot just kept creeping in. I guess I am unable to create pwp with these two._

 _As such, this is now growing to be a proper friendship/fluff fic, which is going to get a nice dose of citrus fruit in the later chapters. Slated are six chapters. Let's see if I can reign in the plot enough to make that happen._

* * *

 _ **Summer Love.**_

 _Ingredients (makes one cocktail)_

 _50ml Martini Bianco_

 _200ml Real Lemonade_

 _1 dash Angostura Bitters_

 _1 Lemon Slice_

* * *

"I'll go mental if I have to endure much longer of... _this_." Kazeon whispered an apology into Rise's mind and shimmered into invisibility. "You know full well I didn't mean it like that, Kazeon..." Rise sulked at her Persona. She could be so _touchy_ about things.

Teddie turned away from watching Chie and Yukiko chatting and walked over to Rise, who stood, arms crossed over her chest, frowning deeply. His shoes squeaking impossibly on the grassy ground until he stopped close to his friend and gave her a worried look with those large expressive eyes. "What's wrong, Rise-chan? Do you need that backrub now?"

Her reply was a huff and an open hand pointing at Kanji. "He needs to do something. I cannot stand another few years of him all moon-struck."

The bear turned, his steps making tiny squeaks. "Who? Kanji-chan? But he's been nothing but bear-y helpful recently?"

Rise grumbled. "To others, maybe. Not to himself." She re-crossed her arms, glaring in turn at the cobalt-blue haired petite, who carefully checked the loading mechanism of her revolver, and the lanky blonde, who was on one knee, taking turns giving sideways glances at the girl and frowning at his thick shield.

Teddie turned back to her and his frown deepened. "You are upset. Why? Did Kanji-chan do something bad? I can talk to him, if y-"

Rise rode right over him, as if he hadn't spoken at all. "Why? _Why_?" Her hand flung barely past Teddie as she now indicated Naoto. "She cannot take a hint and-" the arm arched back "he cannot give one large enough needed for her. They will be totally hopeless on their own!" The idol's hair almost bristled with indignation. "And don't think Kanji's the only problem in all of this. NGH! Will you just _look_ at that?"

The look on the bear's face remained confused. The head popped up and the very ... _pretty_ young blonde boy poked out of the bear suit, turning back to study Kanji and Naoto from a different perspective. "They look the same to me as they always do, Rise-chan... "

Naoto had finished reloading and checking over or cleaning or whatever the heck she was doing with her weapon. And while Rise and Teddie looked on, she half-turned her body, her shoulders barely twisting sideways, allowing her to cast a quick, barely-visible glance at Kanji. Before their eyes would meet, she looked down her side, grabbing the thick cord which connected the butte of her revolver to her hidden holster.

Rise let out a long, painful groan at the display. She gave Teddie a half-hearted punch on the shoulder. "And that's the problem, ya dummy. The same as always. The same as they have been looking like for the past few weeks. Or in his case, since I've known him. They need some help." The idol resumed her sulking, but directed it at the ground now. "Maybe I can think of something..."

Yosuke wandered over to them, while Yuu chatted with the Fox, negotiating a price for some spiritual energy. "Why, what are you two plotting now?" He smiled and gave Rise one of his easy winks.

Teddie was only too happy to reply. "Rise-chan just said she nee-mmmhmHMmmph!"

Rise had immediately thrown herself over the back of Teddie's bear costume, making the handsome beauty of a boy duck back into his suit, the eyes on the head piece coming back to life with indignation; her hands clamped over the face and mouth of his outfit. "I need to think of some fruit cocktails for a party! I think we deserve some time off, don't you, Yosuke-senpai?"

"Heck, yes! If you need help with something, let me know, I'll do what I can to get a party with Risette started!" He punched the air and grinned broadly. "I think we even have some leaflets with cocktail recipes in the back of the storage rooms, from some tropical week we had a few months ago."

"That sounds awesome! I'll ask you about those later!" She gave him a light, sweet smile, pushed Teddie over to one side - prompting a small startled "Kuma!"- and rolled him away from the others.

"Don't bruise him up too badly, he has a night shift coming up still!" When she didn't reply, Yosuke just shrugged and wandered back to Yu.

Rise helped Teddie back up on his feet in another corner of the TVs entrance lot and hugged him. "Sorry, Ted, but you cannot spoil the surprise already!"

He pretended to brush dust off of himself with a hurt expression on his face at first. At her words, however, he turned to eye her from the corner of his big button eyes. "What surprise?"

"Why, the one I am planning for Kanji and Naoto of course! And, well, the rest of the team, I guess. They'll get suspicious if it's only for them..." She laid a light finger to her lips. "Correction: _Naoto-kun_ will get suspicious. I'm not sure Kanji would, really."

Teddie bounced happily. "Sounds like fun! What can I do?"

"You..." Rise smirked. "You will be my partner in crime, Teddie."

* * *

"That's cheating, Rise-chan!" The boy folded his arms tightly across his chest and glared across the table, ignoring the girl beside him.

Rise rolled her eyes at Teddie. "No, it's not. And if you want to be technical, it's playing fate. It would only be cheating if we did this for ourselves!"

He eyed the chopsticks wearily. "I think it's cheating if you change the rules for everyone but yourself."

Rise scooted closer to Teddie under the pavilion near the Samegawa. She laid an arm across his shoulders and hugged him close. "We'll be doing this to help Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun. This is not a bad thing, not really. This is a good thing. For both of them." After a moment's hesitation she dropped her arm from his shoulders, dramatically lifted the hand to her forehead and sighed. "It will be a good thing for everyone else, too."

The bear-boy looked from Rise to the chopsticks again. "And this is the best way you can think of?" At her nod he dropped his shoulders. "Okay. For Kanji-chan and Nao-chan."

She clapped her hands in excitement. "Thank you, Teddie! I knew you had my back!"

"Explain to me again how this will be played?" Teddie reached for a bag of snacks and leaned his chin on a fist, ready to listen.

"Okay, so: I marked the ends of the chopsticks very subtly-"

"Subbuttle" Teddie snorted quietly.

Rise giggled, remembering Kanji's moment of glory a few weeks ago. "Yes, Sub-butt-ly. The marks will be hard to see, but still be there for us to find, see?" She picked up three of the marked chopsticks and turned them over in her hands. "We need to just memorize which chopstick is what number and we can pave the way for our two failures-at-romance."

Teddie shot her a frown. "That's mean."

"No, it's the truth!" Rise sulked in return, then heaved a dramatic sigh. "Well, maybe a little mean. Okay, our two future lovebirds!"

The boy nodded. "Better. Want a Pocky?" He offered her the box, nearly empty already.

"Hm? Oh. No, thank you." She didn't even see his sulk or how he sullenly started to eat the Pocky he had balanced between his lips. "So the game is only part of the plan, see? We'll head out to the beach with tents and stuff and camp out there."

"Oh! The beach! Waves crash ashore matching the passion of young love! A midsummer night's dream begins as the sun sets..."

Rise giggled. "Now you're getting it! I'll bring drinks to the beach, but I'll need to be careful. I want to make sure the surprise-drinks only go to the people who need to relax more - that's Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun. Everyone else will just get plain, non-alcoholic fruit cocktails."

"You wanna make them drunk?" Teddie looked shocked, but did not stop munching on his snacks, spraying crumbs as a result.

"No!" Rise dodged some ballistic shrimp cracker bits. "Ick, Teddie!" She shook her head empathically. "No no! Not _drunk_ , just... you know how alcohol works, don't you?"

Chewing, he nodded, but swallowed before answering this time. "It makes people silly and then sick."

"Well, yes, if you have too much," Rise agreed hesitantly. "But I will just spike the drinks, you know, just add a _liiiiiittle_ bit? That way, it'll make them relax and be more honest, see?"

"Alcohol does that?"

"In small enough doses, yes. I am very sure Naoto-kun never drinks, it's not logical or some such nonsense, and Kanji may look like a punk at times, but he is a really good boy. I doubt he ever even snuck a beer. So we won't need much. It'll be easy!"

"And you promise we won't make them sick?"

"Bear-paw promise, Ted."

They placed their open palms against one another for a few seconds, and Teddie nodded seriously. "Paw-mise."

She nodded in return. "Okay. So, remember, no one can know about any of this. If they ask you, tell them to ask me."

"Secrets are mean..."

"But it's for a surprise! You like surprises, don't you?"

"Well..."

She nodded as if his hesitation was full agreement. "There you go then! It's only a secret to make sure we can surprise Kanji-kun and Naoto-kun!"

Teddie sighed and picked up the bundle of chopsticks again. "Yes. For them. But I still don't understand why it's for them? I mean, we'll all be there, right?"

Rise watched him fiddle with the sticks and laid a finger to her lips for a moment. "Okay, look. You know how you get extra samples at Junes sometimes?"

"Oh, that's easy! All I need to do is lean close and sparkle a little!"

"Right! For you. Kanji does not know how to sparkle at Naoto, but he would really, really like to, see?"

"I could teac-"

"No, Teddie, no. Kanji-kun could not sparkle if we doused him in glitter." After a pause she added, "I also think he'd kill us if we tried to teach him how."

After a thoughtful pause, the boy nodded seriously. "It's sad, but I think you're right, Rise-chan. Kanji-chan was not made to sparkle at girls."

"Right! I knew you'd understand." She looked around the table and took the marked chopsticks from him. "Okay. So, the number One has that missing bit that looks like the bamboo splintered in manufacturing, right here, see it?" At his nod she put it aside and showed him the next one. "The two has that dark streak all the way along the side. The three…"

* * *

 _HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY naoto-kuuuuuuuun~~~3 got planz 4 Sat n2wks?_ (｡◕∀ ◕｡)

Naoto cocked an eyebrow at the text message. Rise, obviously. None of her other friends were as obsessed with emoji. She hit the reply button and swiftly tapped out a reply.

 **N RE PLNS**

She put the phone back down and resumed pondering over a case file that her grandfather had sent her a week ago. She was so close to a solution. It was that exhilarating moment of trying to find that last puzzle piece; that last string to pull that would unravel the whole assembly of clues and facts. If only-

Her phone buzzed, skipping slightly over the table, and Naoto jumped. With a sigh she flipped it open.

 _Awsom! ur comin w/us 2 teh BEACH!_ (*゜∀゜*)ノ _swim suit req'd!_

A trip to the beach? This late in the year? And swimwear? What was this plan Rise had precisely?

 **AFAIC 2CLD / PSSBL HYPOTHERMIA**

She shook her head and was about to put her phone back down, when it buzzed in her hand. She gazed at the message.

 _ur so cute! :3 bring blankies k?_

Ah, yes, this was a typical Kujikawa invite. You could decline and find reasons not to, and the idol would happily ignore each one. By now, Naoto had already learned that simply accepting the planned excursion would be simpler than trying to find a way out.

 **ILL B THR**

With a sigh, Naoto decided that the conversation should be concluded and threw the phone back on the couch, where she could easily ignore it, should Rise wish to chat more.

* * *

 _kaaaaaanjiiiiiiiiiii-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun~_ _ヽ_ _(oo)/ I know you're theeeeeereeeeeeee~~_

Kanji grunted and dropped his needlework in disgust. Now he really had lost count. He'll need to redo the entire row!

He should never have answered to her first text, anyhow. He should know better. He never found out how she got his number, but if the girl wanted to chat you up, nothing would stop her. And ignoring her only made her send you more of those damned cute faces and shit she always pulled.

 **What, Rise? Damnit, this better be important.**

Grumbling to himself about friends and hyper idol girls, he started to unravel the last row he had been trying to knit. Working without a pattern was easy for him, sure, but even this required some concentration - which Rise had been poking at for the last half hour with text message after text message.

 _so grumpy~ (_ _ノ_ _ಠಠ_ _)_ _ノ_ _彡_ _( o°o) ned u 2 helpw/ partay! plzzzzzzzzzz!_

What?

 **What do you need my help for? What party?**

Carefully threading the needle back into the lower row, he ignored the buzzing of his phone for a while. When he finally picked it up in one hand, carefully holding the tips of the needles in the other to prevent losing more work, Rise had spammed him four messages in a row.

 _i told u! 2wks! sat! beach-camping-last chance 2 swim~_

A beach party? This late in the summer? He shuddered at the thought of trying to even get anywhere near the water.

 _naoto-kun will b ther~~_

Wait, what…?

 _made hr promise! :D_

 _just imagin~ naoto-kuuuuun n a bathin suit~_ _σ_ _(*_ _ε_ _*_ _ｏ_ _) she promisd kanji-kuuun~ ;P_

His shivering hands first fumbled and dropped the tiny skirt he was knitting for the previously knitted fox girl. Then his phone shivered out of his other hand. He pinched his eyes shut and groaned, blindly groping for his tissue box. _Damn you, Rise Kujikawa!_

It took a few minutes, but he finally wrote back.

 **Get bent, Rise, stop fooling around. It'll be way too cold for a swim, anyhow.**

He picked up the knitting needles, cursed softly at having lost half of his last row and started to re-count the loops. When his phone buzzed, he still quickly glanced at it.

 _meanie~_ ((╬ಠ﹏ಠ)) _tnk of teh camping! romantic setn! the stars~ campfire 2 warm u n naoto-kuuuuun~_

He held the phone in one hand, drumming his fingers of his other on the desk. _Yeah, right._

 **The rain, the mystery food, and you planning it makes it a really bad idea.**

 _But maybe…_ He hesitated and send a second message. **Is Naoto really coming to this? Doesn't sound like her.**

 _she promised! =3= senpai makin food, i swer... Teddie gtz snacks... c'mon~ we cn figur dis out!_ ⁽͑˙˚̀བ̇˚́˙⁾̉

Well, if Rise convinced even Naoto... not that her being there really was the deciding point! But if even she came...

 **Okay, I'll show.**

He flipped his phone shut and restarted his knitting work. Each time his text messages buzzed, he started to curse under his breath and he knew this would be a long two weeks coming up.

* * *

 _seeeeeeeeeeennpaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiii~~~ \\(-_ _ㅂ_ _-)/_

Yu chuckled as he looked at the text message.

"What is it, big bro?"

"Rise-chan sent me a text message, Nanako. She is being silly."

"Oh, Rise-neesan! Say hello, please! I want to see her again soon!"

"Will do. Now, back to your homework! What's the next subject?" Yu started tapping out a reply, giving his cousin – or little sister, as it were, a fond smile.

 **Hey Rise. Nanako says Hi.**

"Oh, just Nature Science. That's always so easy, I like that subject." Nanako opened her school bag and dug around for her books.

 _tl nana she my BESTEST-BEST FAN! :_ ᵔᴥᵔ _n i wanna hang out soon! *3* btw SENPAT! nedz 2 bribe u n2 plann' a picnic bento_ _ｍ（_ _｡_ ___ _｡_ _）_ _ｍ_

 _4 beach prty... if not felln' up 2 it, kk, cn just bring Aiya's or sumtin'... BUT U ALWAYS COOK AWESOM! =3=_

Yu read the back-to-back messages and gave his phone a puzzled look. Picnic bento, but she wasn't being all bubbly about it? She must not have thought of this for a date with her. And then he remembered.

"What is the assignment, Nanako?" _Taptaptap_

 **For that thing in two weeks? I think I can do that. Sounds like you didn't want fancy anyways**

"Teacher said to write about what we learned from growing the tomatoes earlier in the year." She gave him a bright smile. "That tomato salad we made was so yummy!"

"Okay, let's get started on that. She might be happy if you also add what you learned compared to the other veggies we grew. And we should add the recipe of the tomato salad we made, I am sure she would be happy to see you liked growing your own food."

 _Bzzt_

"Oh, yay! But I don't remember the recipe anymore…"

"That's okay, I will help you remember and we will write it down, alright?" He reached to his phone and checked the messages.

 _UR TEH BEST! (_ _ღღ_ _) btw narrwd dwn drinks i wanna mix 2~ i can send a list if u waaaaaaaannnnnnnt~~ :D_

"You always have great ideas, big bro! I'll start with the tomatoes now, then I'll think about the daikon!"

 **Sounds good, Rise. I'll see you at school tomorrow, need to help Nanako with her homework now.**

"Oh, and Rise said Hi and asked me to tell you that you are her best fan." He put the phone down and gave the little girl a fond smile as she blushed happily.

A beach party, he mused, looking over Nanako's writing. Well, she had promised to keep it nice and clean, the drinks were all fruit cocktails and she had made plans for them to actually camp out. Putting together some ideas for food should be easy.

Rise had really gotten into planning this thing. She had made sure she would not break any laws in finding the perfect camp site; all the while muttering about Naoto being a killjoy; scouted out where they could have access to showers and other facilities and where camping and camp fires would not be an issue.

If she spent half as much energy on her studies as she had on this thing, she would have beaten Yosuke's butt in ranking on the last exams.

* * *

"No, Chie, you didn't add your X into the equation again, that's why your graph does that 'stupid spike'." Yukiko penciled the formula into the margin of her friend's note book once more and underlined the X. Not that it was welcomed much.

Chie drummed her pen on the desk and frowned at the text book. "I really don't get why I would even need this. Ever!"

Yukiko closed her eyes a moment, suppressed a sigh with a slow, controlled breath and smiled at her friend. "Well, for one, you'll need it to pass the exams and be allowed into the police academy. That's a pretty good reason, no?"

Chie slid her gaze sideways and glowered at Yukiko for a moment.

"No?" prompted Yukiko once more, giving her friend an encouraging smile still.

The short-haired girl sighed. "Yes. You're right, Yuki. Thank you for helping me." Chie's easy smile was back at once and she turned her head to look at the formula once more. "Right! I can do this!"

Her determination to tackle that specific mathematic foe got interrupted by a J-Pop jingle from her phone. "Oh, Rise!" She grabbed up her phone before Yukiko could put a word in and flipped it open. She frowned at her phone a moment before tapping out a reply.

"Did Rise-chan need anything, Chie?" Yukiko craned her neck to see the screen.

Her friend turned the phone. "Not really sure. I have a hard time understanding her, as always. Man, I thought Yosuke's texts were bad, then I started getting hers."

The black-haired girl took the phone and read:

ᵔᴥᵔ _chiiiiieeeeee~~ rembr teh partay? U sed ud help if I ned u!_

"Oh, yes, her beach party! What help did you offer her?"

"Oh god, you can read that?"

"Well, yes? 'Chie, remember the party, you said you would help if I asked' is what she wrote."

Chie looked at the phone, then at her friend. "How did you… generally I need to ask her to slow down to understand what the heck she's saying!" She pointed at her own message below.

 **omg Rise slow dwn, I don't understand u!**

Yukiko chuckled. "Yeah, she can be a bit hard to- Oh!" She giggled as the phone vibrated in her hand. "For you, I think."

"Read it to me, I can't brain right now."

Yukiko's eyes moved over the small screen and she gave Chie a puzzled glance. "Did you promise Rise you'd get Naoto-kun a bathing suit?"

Chie's eyes widened. "Did I- _HELL_! I never said- Oh that woman!" She grabbed the phone back and started tapping on the key pad. She had to stop when Yukiko took the phone from her. "What are you-?"

"Hey, just think about it for a moment. If this is about that beach party, what do you think really _are_ the chances that Naoto will bring her own swimwear? I'd be surprised if she even owned anything to bring to the beach. Maybe us having something on hand wouldn't be a bad idea?"

For a while, the two just stared at each other, and then a smiled started to grow on both of their faces.

"Bet you I can find a better bathing suit for her than you, Yuki!"

"No way! She'll absolutely want to wear what I pick out for her."

"Okina?"

"You bet!"


	2. Shark Bite

_Since we've already finished this one, and seeing the main fic DF will need a few more days (Hoping your finals went well, rZD!), let's continue with the beach party!_

 _Following chapters may be a bit slower; I am fighting plot creep and ask i keep joking with Ikasury: "Gah, i keep getting plot in my smut! #Problems50Shades never had" ;)_

* * *

 _ **Shark Bite**_

Ingredients (makes one cocktail)

* 45 ml Blue Curacao  
* 30 ml White rum  
* 15 ml Vodka  
* 60 ml Sour mix  
* 60 ml Pineapple juice  
* Small dash Grenadine

* * *

"Still cannot believe your luck, eh, Naoto-kun?" Rise-san chirped from the other side of the temporary cloth changing cabin.

"Yes. How very… fortunate." Naoto's comment was dry as dust.

"I know!"

"Truly. One cannot fathom the many pieces that would need to randomly come together like this."

"Uh-huh! I mean, it could have been a real tragedy, you forgetting to bring your bathing suit. You know, after I reminded you yesterday. And this morning. And before we left…" There was no malice in Rise-san's words. If anything, she sounded amused. Almost as if she had been expecting her unwilling friend to 'forget'.

"Yes…quite." Naoto blankly stared at the hangers in front of her. "And then this… absolute _bounty_."

"Yeah! Crazy!"

Naoto stepped back and let her eyes run over not one, but four bathing suits. "It is so serendipitous that you, Yukiko-senpai _and_ Chie-senpai all had a spare," she dryly noted. Then she held up a dark blue bikini that was only modest in how sparingly it used cloth. "And to think even Yosuke-senpai..."

"I can hardly believe it myself! … no, really, I can hardly believe it."

"That's the correct turn of phrase, yes. Especially how I am considerably shorter than Yukiko-senpai and Chie-senpai and still their costumes appear to be an ideal fit for me."

"Huh, fancy that!"

The detective silently glared at the cloth wall that separated her and the idol, then turned her malice to the four options presented.

That bikini Yosuke had procured was right out of the question. He must have not seriously thought she would wear this. Looking closely at it once more, she noticed that the top part was actually tied in the front. There was no clasp in the back, it was just a wrap-around, closing in the front with a knot. _Wonderful. Easy access._ She grunted and tossed it outside.

"Aw, but Na-"

"No." A single firm word. That was all she had to say on that matter. She ignored the dramatic sigh from the other side.

The next one on her list was possibly a... _thing_ Rise had picked out. It was low-cut around the hips, showed considerable skin in the back and had a faux-corset pattern on the front, pulling the eyes of the watcher to all the wrong places. No. Out it went.

"But you'd look amazi-"

" _Rise_ -san."

"Fine, fine." Another dramatic sigh came from outside and the sound of the garment being grabbed up.

The next one had the classic flair of Amagi-senpai all over it. The blue-and-grey almost-two-piece was cute, but not girly, modest while still showing a fair bit of belly and back. Slender strips of cloth went up around the ribcage and waist diagonally to connect the two main segments. The bottom part had a skirt in flowing greys and blues of different shades, cut diagonally so that the right knee was fully covered by it, and reaching up to just below her hip on the other.

She actually considered it for a while, thinking she could easily excuse showing herself in this manner in a setting of good friends. It was certainly flattering and the added 'dress' part was actually intriguing her. She held it in front of her, wondering what the others would think. Then thought of Tatsumi-kun, for reasons beyond her, blushing furiously.

And then tossed it outside.

"Aw, Naoto-kun, really? You'd look stunning in this!"

Naoto hesitated, searching for an adequate answer. The actual reason, the sudden ball of confused feelings, was not going to convince Rise-san. "Considering that this would be the garment I should wear for the sportive activities you have planned, and as such is meant to provide comfort in the water, the skirt, while pleasant looking certainly, would be a tangle in the water and possibly dangerous to swim in."

A defeated sigh came from the other side. Naoto nodded to herself. _Well done._

That left her with the one that clearly spoke of Chie-senpai, and Naoto felt her affection and admiration for the young woman grow as she picked up the suit. Rise must not have seen it, or not really given it much thought.

The dark blue, nearly black suit looked a lot like the ones swimmers at the Olympics wore. Spandex reached down past the hips and gave her as much cover as long-cut shorts would. While the shoulders were free, the piece even had a collar reaching up past her shoulders. It covered her from the neck well past her hips. She could have done without the sliver-thread lining of the suit, which highlighted her hips and chest, but this would do nicely. In fact, it covered her more than her standard school-issue suit she had _forgotten_ at home would have. And more cover was the right choice here. Wasn't it?

She sighed, still staring.

"I know you haven't started changing yet, Naoto-kun. Come on, get out here, I wanna play water-polo!"

There was no escaping it. By not wearing a swimsuit and remaining in her shirt and pants while sitting on the side lines, she would possibly stand out more than by actually wearing one of the provided options.

She sighed and started to unbutton her shirt. There would be no avoiding this.

* * *

Kanji cracked his knuckles, then stretched his neck out to the left and right. He wasn't happy wearing the boxers Rise had persuaded him to bring today.

He had absolutely balked at the loose-fitting ones she had first tried to shove at him; wet cloth chafes and he would not be caught dead wearing that checker pattern it had. Also, he was nervous wearing anything remotely loose around Teddie. Damn bear was likely to depants him or somethin'.

But these were kind of awesome, even if a little more than he liked to wear when in the water.

He liked his European-style brief-cut trunks. But when she had somehow found him these black boxers that hugged his legs half-way down, he gave in. They were comfortable enough, sure, kept things nicely wrapped, too, but he still felt oddly confined in his movements.

The other guys reacted oddly relieved for some reason or another. Probably worried he'd freeze 'em off or something in his other trunks. Unlikely. He was always toasty, even in cool water, so that wasn't the problem, but the guys had made rude remarks last time and at least those didn't happen today. Eh. He'd take it.

"Why aren't you in the water yet?"

He turned to see Yu-senpai give him that easy, warm smile.

"Ah. Well. After last time, uh, I-I wanna keep an eye out first."

"For seaweed?"

" _Senpai_!"

"Kidding, Kanji, kidding! Okay, well, see you in a bit, don't wait too long. Yosuke said the water is surprisingly warm."

"Yea, I'll join ya in a moment."

Kanji cracked his knuckles again. Teddie was, if he was being totally honest with himself - and only himself! - actually an excuse. A good one, but still an excuse.

When Naoto arrived, he felt a pinch of disappointment. She looked like she always did. Shirt, pants, all things that made her female hidden. She even announced, with apparent mock disappointment, how she had forgotten to bring a bathing suit. His own pangs of discouragement were smothered when the girls - and, for some reason, _Yosuke_ \- produced "spares", as they had called it. How and why Yosuke would be carrying a spare, he did not want to ponder on too much. Indeed, it seemed like his bag had held a number of "spares" for the girls. How'd that creep even know their measurements?!

The next thing he knew, Rise herded Naoto to one of the cloth-walled changing areas and since then she patrolled around it. He caught a glimpse of a piece of clothing being tossed out and watched Rise argue with the closed curtain. Could she really talk Naoto into wearing a bathing suit? How'd she look in one? Aside from amazing, clearly! She managed that when he saw her in school every day already.

Would she really do this in public was the other question. Sure, the spot Rise had picked was pretty remote, he could barely see the next folks over, there was hardly any traffic and their tents shielded them from just about anyone else.

But Naoto was a very quiet and subdued person. She wasn't likely to enjoy being shown off like this. She had refused doing it for the Miss Yasogami event after all. Mind that was before the entire school. Was this different enough?

He groaned and turned back to watch his senpai enjoying the water. He should join them, standing around waiting on Naoto was hella creepy.

Just as he started to brave the surf to go in he heard Chie-senpai give the loudest, most shocked squeak. He'd only heard her like that once - on the roof, when a lady bug had landed on her bare arm. She was nearly in tears by the time he had rushed to her and gently taken it off before she smooshed the poor thing.

This time, the reason was blond, came up splashing and was being homed in by Kanji and Yosuke-senpai at the same time.

"Aw, Chie! You have no sense for occasion," Teddie mewled. Only to squeak a moment later when Kanji grabbed him by the midriff and proceeded to pull him out of the water. "OW, Kan-chan, not so rough, there is enough of _moi_ for everyone...!"

"There is too damned much of you, _bear_ ," Yosuke snarled beside Kanji, furiously following them ashore. "I warned you about laying your paws on the girls!"

"But you also said Chie accidentally losing her top woul-mhmhmhmphfh!"

Kanji looked down to see a hand clamped over Ted's mouth. He didn't much care, he knew what Yosuke had to say about the girls, and Chie in particular. His senpai was a bit of a pervert, but even he wouldn't go stripping the girls.

"What do you say, senpai, should we stake him out to fry in the sun?"

"No! My lovely pale skin!"

"Bear's got a point, he'll roast in no time flat."

"Well, we clearly can't let him loose." Kanji looked about, then looked down. "Could bury him."

Yosuke's eyes lit up. "Kanji, you're a genius!" He dropped to his hands and knees and started to dig out a shallow grave for Ted, giggling.

"Make it deep enough. Can't let him struggle out on his own. Here, lemme help ya."

He dropped the boy-bear, heard the _oomph_ as he did, and then pinned him down under one knee as he proceeded to help Yosuke dig. _Bear had it coming_. Mind, he'll prolly put a shirt over his face. Make sure he won't get roasted to a crisp. AND keep him from oogling the girls. _Bear's a damned pervert, too._ _Always had been, but living with Yosuke has possibly made that so much worse._

As he and Yosuke held down Ted while digging him the hole he had previously, in a way, dug himself; Kanji heard the voice of Rise pipe up not too far from him.

"Naoto-kun, really! You had such nice outfits to choose from and out of everything you had to pick… well, _that_?"

Teddie struggled to sit up, and Kanji half-turned, keeping his knee down and holding the boy down by his shoulder with one of his large hands. "Don't you dare, Ted. You've done quite enough today, and you will _not_ have a go at Naoto now, too."

"Aw, but Kan-chan, I just want to see her!"

"Well, once you've cooled off, maybe." Kanji glared at Ted, then turned his head.

He barely heard Chie whooping her approval over the suit Naoto finally picked. He also, thankfully, didn't hear whichever pervy comment Hanamura certainly was providing. All he heard was the faint ringing in his ears as blood started to rush through his body faster and faster.

Kanji gaped; then swallowed. Hard. He was sure the guys next to him could hear the gulp as he tried to dislodge the sudden and massive lump forming in his throat.

Okay, so he had expected Naoto to look stunning, no matter what. But he had to wonder if she realized what that suit was doing to her… her absolute _everything_.

"Ka-KAN-CHAN! Stop staring at Nao-chan and Rise-chan!" Sand sprayed up from below as Teddie tried to struggle away.

Kanji growled, shifting. "Hold still, bear!"

"Dude, Kanji, not cool!" He whipped his head around to look at his senpai, whose expression was a mix of a frown and utter amusement. "We'll bury Ted, but bleeding on him is just gross." He punctuated that statement by pushing Kanji back and away from the prone boy.

Kanji's hand flew up to his face… and there was nothing. He turned the frown from his hands into a glare directed at Yosuke, who laughed loudly, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. He wheezed, "Your face! Dude, Kanji, the look on your face!"

 _Oh har-de-har, let's make fun of the fact Kanji has a crush on Naoto who would not ever in a million years feel the same way about him._

He lifted his other hand in a fist towards the older boy. "Very funny, senpai. Say, did you just say you wanted me to kick you in the hole with tha' bear?" He stared at his fist, let it fly open and made a sharp gesture. "Ugh! Fine, you guys sort yourselves out. Teddie, if I see you closer than arm's length to any of the girls, I will stick you in that suit of yours and sew it shut!"

He struggled to his feet and walked a long arch around the two new arrivals, away from the water. And yet, even while the goal was to avoid them, he couldn't stay away. Dropping beside a tent, he continued to listen in to Rise and Naoto.

"…and your criteria was to ensure I could participate with you all in your game of water polo. I am more than adequately dressed for the sport. In fact, this would constitute of an athletes' choice of water wear."

"But you're… this … NAOTO-KUN!" Rise flapped her arms. "This is supposed to be a fun summer beach party! Teasing the boys in a sexy outfit is part of the fun!"

"I would think stifling the boys in a stupor of," she coughed, " _arousal_ ," a cleared throat, "would render them useless in the upcoming activities. If indeed partaking in a group activity is the goal of the upcoming events, then we should not make them uncomfortable on purpose."

"Speak for yourself, it's one of the few weapons we have to bring the guys to their knees!" She giggled and purred, "And sometimes that's exactly where you will want them, believe me… oh, don't give me that look, Naoto-kun, you know exactly what I mean! You're being thick on purpose sometimes."

Kanji quirked an eyebrow as Naoto stalked up to their friend and leaned in on Rise. Being the shortest on the team, it never failed to amaze him how her concentrated anger could make her loom over just about anyone she focused on. Himself included. Frequently.

The detective glared into the idol and added in low tones, "I am no such thing. You are merely frustrated that my logic trumps your desire to parade me around in some… some _ridiculous_ garment." She leaned up, standing straight, and the renewed rushing in his ears that came with her posture muffled, "Remind me to thank Satonaka-senpai for the loan."

 _Oh man, Rise, you have no clue about what can tease a guy._

Kanji, who had soaked up tailoring pretty much with his mother's milk, knew all about the female form. Especially, if he allowed himself the honest thought, since he became an adolescent. The key to being sexy in any outfit wasn't lack of clothing, it was where that clothing was placed to the full advantage of the woman wearing it and how it was used. A young girl in a well-tailored kimono could bring a man's blood to a boil much faster than that same girl in a skimpy bikini.

And right now, Naoto was setting his every sense on fire.

Technically she was wearing a competition-cut swimsuit as they had grown ever more popular over the last decade at the Olympics, national championships and even in less publicly noticed triathlon events. It did not look anywhere near as complex as one of those suits with all their modern tricks: no imitated shark scales, no covering the whole body, or forcing in a tight hood.

No, the piece Naoto stood in, hair shimmering shades of cobalt in the sunlight, was a shoulder-free, nearly black blue suit, the top ending in nearly a tight turtle-neck. It went well past her hips, the legs snuggly held by the elastic cloth half-way to her knees. She was enclosed in the dark, slightly shimmering swimming suit and seemed fully unawares of the effect the tight-fitting clothing truly held.

As he pulled his legs against his chest and watched her from behind the corner of the tent, he could not picture her looking hotter at _any_ time before this. And that includes the times he had absolutely accidentally seen her at the _onsen_.

The tight fit alone wasn't what pushed this article from merely highlighting her to being a true eye-catcher. There was a border of silver thread all around the suit that ensured your gaze was caught and directed. It sent one's eyes along the feminine hips she usually (and clumsily) tried to hide with flaring shirts; bordered and caressed her breasts, outlining their shape; reaching up to the silver ring touching her throat, nicely drawing the eye there from around her slim shoulders. As she turned to head into the water, the bright border fell over her back to tuck at the slim waist and flare to remind you of those hips once more.

He dropped his head on his knees and groaned. Why had he thought coming here was a good idea again?

"You know, Kanji…"

He jumped and turned his head to see Yu stand behind him with his arms crossed. "S-Senpai…"

"This isn't exactly being in the water." He mused a moment. "Though, by the look on your face, you're already headed for the deep end of the pool…"

Kanji gaped. Yu-senpai clearly had been watching him! _Damnit_! He had seen him drink in Naoto as she stood there, arguing with Rise-chan. How long had he been there? Oh dear gods, what must he be thinking of him?

"I get you're perhaps a bit disappointed, but you didn't really think that after last summer she'd come out in that bikini Yosuke found her at Junes, did you? Come on, stop moping-"

"-'m not moping," Kanji tried to cut in.

"Good, then you can join us playing some water polo. Oh, and don't worry. The water's nice, but it will cool you off."

The knowing smile was possibly the worst.

* * *

As it turned out, it wasn't really water polo. Naoto would have preferred the clean rules of a formalized sport, but they ended up creating a number of fun games on the spot with the small water-polo ball they had brought along.

The suit she had ended up selecting was possibly giving her the most comfort she had ever felt in the water. She could not remember a time, any time at all, when she had felt so 'in the element', pun not fully intended.

She felt like being wrapped up tightly in a second skin which moved with her, following her lead, enhancing each turn, swim stroke and dive. Feeling well covered by the suit possibly helped to make her feel this free.

As a matter of fact, she found herself smiling freely, even laughing, as she was trying her best to keep up with her friends.

Just now she saw Yosuke-senpai wind up to throw the ball, possibly at Kanji-kun, who had turned out to be a bit of a weakness in her team makeup. With all his bulk and general height, he was more of a target in their improvised game of water polo-slash-dodge ball.

She twisted, her feet bracing her against the ground and leapt, her turning not stopping till she snapped the ball up mid-air and pulling it against her chest with a triumphal chuckle.

Here is where she had miscalculated.

The splash of her jump had warned Tatsumi and he in turn was preparing to dodge aside too. And instead of catching the ball – and possibly missing, like several times before - his hands fastened tightly around Naoto's waist, catching her as she still gave the other team a tight grin.

Under normal circumstances she'd have protested, spluttered, tried to escape. But the suit made her feel hidden in a way she had never before experienced. It made her feel powerful. She was wearing a tight, female outfit, certain that it still hid her well enough to not need to feel any of her typical shame or fluster. His grasp on her was firm and she felt him move with the motion of her acceleration. She felt invincible!

Kanji-kun seemed to be another matter. He had caught her, sure, but now held her stiffly with shaking hands. Possibly her weight put some strain on his wrists? But this was a chance she could not pass up on.

"Kanji-kun! Lift me! _Up_!"

"Uh- sure!"

He pressed her up and she let her legs swing an arch to either side of his torso, trying to reach around his body in order to balance herself against him. In her mind, she would wrap her legs around his ribcage. She quickly noticed there was no reach. He held her at quite a distance from his body, so all she managed was to press her feet against his chest. _This might work, too…_

Laughing, she braced herself, her body turning sideways and flung the ball hard, letting it skip over the water towards Chie, who was bouncing up and down behind imaginary side-lines, waiting to re-enter the playing field. The older girl snatched up the ball and in a fluid motion turned to fire it at Yu, who, distracted by Naoto and Kanji, had not followed the ball. He was hit and withdrew to the side lines.

"Heeeey, that's unfair," Teddie piped up, "No one said we could do that!"

"Thank you, Kanji-kun," Naoto said over her shoulder and hid a smile as his shaking arms all but dropped her into the water again. She turned to the blonde boy on the other side of the imaginary dividing line and quipped back, "While that is correct, no one said we could dive to escape the ball, but that did save you last round, Teddie-kun."

Kanji scrambled away from her, muttering apologies. Why apologies? He had helped her even the score. One out on both sides.

She turned her attention back to the game, her heart beating a little faster than it previously had. The wonderfully fine play they just executed sent her emotions soaring and she allowed herself a pleased, broad smirk.

After this had carried out so well, she remained in front of Kanji. His reflexes were no sharper than before, but he made a great target for the other team – and an excellent interception point for her. A good choice overall, as the tall boy must be starting to feel some exhaustion. His moves grew less focused, he seemed to trip over his own feet and seemed overall even more distracted since their combined attack.

Their move of being caught and lifted did not reoccur, but it did not need to. She felt light on her feet; swimming, dodging, and covering Tatsumi. He in turn managed a few nice saves himself, once punching the ball away from her when the light reflecting on the water had made her unable to see the angle of approach correctly. _It was lucky that he had paid such close attention to his teammate; that could have cause some minor injury._

"Thanks, Kanji-kun! Nice save!"

"Y-yeah, good one. N-Nice moves, too, N-Naoto."

This gave her pause. She started to turn her head to look over her shoulder, but knew the motion would warn him. Something about that last reply he gave her - while very, well, 'Tatsumi' - felt weirdly stiff. It reminded her of Kanji Tatsumi she met two years ago.

As Yosuke and Teddie started another one of their arguments, Naoto stretched her arms out under the water to counterbalance, then slowly arched her back, letting her hair dip backwards into the water. Her eyes met with Kanjis and he flinched, shutting his eyes tightly. And even though he looked away at once, she felt a sudden spark pass. She righted herself instantly.

Nervously she pushed her wet hair back, frowning. _What was that?_

He had not been this flustered around her in quite some time. And while often flushed, she had not actually seen him advert his eyes in this manner since, well, at least the ski trip earlier this year.

It was thanks purely to instinct that the ball didn't hit her in the face a moment later. Her hand flew up and she smacked it out of the air, towards the beach.

"Woah, damn, sorry, that was close! You okay, Naoto?"

"Oh dear, Naoto-kun?"

"Nao-chan!"

She knew the voices, knew they wanted an answer, but her thoughts seemed to grind to a painful halt just then. "Yes, please, do not worry. I-I believe that my body is nearing its limit, I may be experiencing fatigue."

 _Kanji-kun had not been much of himself all day today, come to think of it. He behaved anxious. Nervous._

Rise had paddled over to her and caught her in a hug. "You were amazing, Naoto-kun! I'm not even mad we didn't win in the end!"

And, oddly, while being held by Kanji not too long ago was fine, this contact made her uneasy. She squirmed out of the embrace, flustered. "Please, Rise-san…"

"Oh, sorry, Naoto-kun!" The embrace ended, but Rise let her hand slip down Naoto's arm and grabbed her hand as she started to head towards the beach. "But you know, you can't really keep wearing this. It's fine now, but with the saltwater and sand and all, it'll get uncomfortable."

"What do you mean?"

Chie and Yukiko joined them and the girls walked to the shore together. The short-haired girl nodded. "Actually, Rise's right, Naoto-kun. These suits are great for being in the water with, but they are uncomfortable if you're lounging on the beach. We're going to shower and change, too. Saltwater wreaks havoc on your skin!"

Yukiko nodded. "You know, the outfit I brought for y- as a spare! As a spare. That would be nice to just sit in. The boys are planning to prepare lunch, so we should ready the blankets and stuff, and you can't move freely in what you're wearing right now."

"Ah. Yes. Well, I-I had assumed after showering I'd simply go back to wearing my regular clothing."

"Yeah, no, that's not how this works, Naoto-kun," Rise giggled. "Let's go hit the showers first. Sounds like the boys are having a duke-out or something in the water still."

* * *

By the time the girls got showered and changed, Naoto found herself in the bathing suit that she had correctly identified as having been provided by Yukiko-senpai.

It had not cost them too much work to convince her to change the suit. Once out of the water, and once the suit had started to dry, the salt and sand began to turn her skin itchy all over. She did not want to consider wearing more than necessary under these conditions.

As she helped with placing out towels and blankets, she kept having the strange feeling of being watched, but every time she looked up, no one was paying her any mind. It was likely that this was pure paranoia at wearing something so, well, _feminine_. And out in the open, too.

Sure, the girls had cooed and giggled once she put on the new outfit, but none of them teased her for it. In fact, they seemed genuinely pleased for her having selected this outfit and wearing it now.

By the time she had finished securing the large open-sided tent for their lunch, the boys finally returned from the showers as well.

Naoto found herself sitting sideways, one leg curled up a little, the other stretched out parallel. The skirt-like attachment to her new attire fanned out over her leg and she found that she actually had relaxed into chatting with the other girls.

It was while Chie-senpai told her about the entrance exams for the police force that something made her look up; an odd lack of movement perceived from the corner of her eye.

She turned her head slightly away from Chie and saw the boys approaching. Minus Kanji, who stood, apparently stock-still, just a few meters behind the other boys. A shudder ran through his body when their eyes met and he pinched his eyes shut, twisting away from her.

That was the exact moment she regretted changing. The look in his eyes was nearly painful and he flinched away from her gaze as if struck.

Not only that, but the hoot from Teddie and Yosuke's sly wink made it quite obvious that they _ogled_ her.

She dropped her gaze with a frown, about to get up when Chie jumped to her feet. "You keep your paws to yourself, Teddie, and _you_ , Yosuke, eyes front and center! It took us forever to convince Naoto-kun that she'd look good like this and you'll not make her feel bad!"

Yukiko, who had been sitting in formal, classic fashion, her legs tucked under her slender body, did not say a word, but her misgiving looks cut straight to the core of the boys.

Rise simply poked Yu-senpai, sulking when his attention wasn't absolutely on her.

Still, none of the other boys' reactions bothered her as much as that one flinch Kanji had given. _Why_? Why would she value his concern so much higher? Why would his reaction outweigh the lecherous looks of Hanamura or the clumsy flirting of Teddie?

The immediate thought was: _Because Hanamura-senpai behaving in this manner is infuriatingly normal, as is Teddie-kun's obvious and outrageous reaction to me. But Kanji-kun is not being himself. And he's not reacting around me as I have grown accustomed to. It's worrying. It's unnerving._

The others settled down on the towels and blankets the girls had put out and the boys started to unstack the picnic bento boxes. Rise cooed over how everything was made by Yu; Yosuke mumbling something thankful in reply. Kanji excused himself, walked back to his tent, set a bit apart from the main tent, and returned a moment later with a second stack of _jūbako_. When he unstacked the boxes, even Yu made big eyes.

"Kan-chan, did you make all of this?" Teddie eyed the different _onigiri_ spread out on banana leaves; the cluster of assorted fish roe packed in iced containers, different versions of tempura and a separate layer of potato salad.

"'s nothing special, ya dumb bear," he muttered, putting forward a glass holding disposable chopsticks. "Just fish and rice and stuff. Senpai's 's way more elaborate."

"I dunno," Yosuke said with a chuckle, "if you ask me, looks like you're trying to impress us. Anyone special in mind?"

Naoto's eyes flickered from Yosuke to Kanji but the latter held his gaze on the small rice bowl in his hand.

Chie rubbed her hands and grabbed a pair of the chopsticks. "Oh-ho-ho, you can count me in with the impressed folks, Kanji, this looks amazing!" She clapped her hands loudly over her chopsticks before picking up her own rice bowl. "And Yosuke, if you're not impressed, I'll take your tempura!"

Breaking apart her chopsticks and folding her hands over them for a moment, Naoto hesitated. She had seen Yu had made something she wanted to try, but she could not shake the feeling here was her chance to make up for… for whatever had happened earlier.

She looked up, doing her best to ignore the possibly unfavourable reactions of her peers and held her bowl out across the opened boxes to Kanji. "Kanji-kun? What would you suggest?"

His eyes came up to meet her gaze, lingered on her and he had to reach twice to actually take the bowl. "W-Well, I think I made decent tempura for a change. Anything ya don't like?" She held his gaze and shook her head mutely. "K-Kay, uhm, let me…" He unwrapped his chopsticks and started to pick out some of the deep-fried shrimp and vegetables. He stacked them carefully in the bowl, then added a tiny amount of thick dipping sauce, so that it wouldn't soak into the fried foods. "Here you go, N-Naoto…"

She took back the bowl, noticing how he had his eyes adverted again. She also heard that tiny, evil, gleeful giggle only Rise could produce. "Thank you, Kanji-kun." She would not let … well, her friend, as it stood; would not let her bait her into another outburst today!

She waited for everyone to pick up some food, then dipped a slice of fried lotus root into the sauce and bit into it. The texture was crisp, but not crunchy; the breading surrounding it was not oily and the sauce gave the whole thing a nicely rounded, full flavour. It was absolutely delicious.

"Wow, Kanji, this is great!" Chie was the first to gleefully shout out. "How'd you make the sauce?"

"Oh, that's easy. Start with thick soy sauce, then heat up _mirin_ in a pan and when it starts getting a bit thick, you pour that in with the soy sauce. It's cheating, I guess, but ma makes it like that."

"Dude," Yosuke cut in, "cheated or not, this is amazing!"

Naoto nodded, taking another bite. Kanji must have seen her nod; a tiny smile flashed across his face.

"Kanji, when I go on tour again I may not only need you to make my stage dresses, but also as my personal chef!"

"No way, Rise, I'm not leavin' Inaba before I finish school, and I heard you talk about touring next year already."

"Aw, it would only be for a few weeks!"

"Yeah, an' I struggle enough if I go each day to keep up. I ain't that smart."

Naoto frowned and looked across the blanket towards him. "Nonsense," she quipped before she could stop herself. One of the things that always riled her up without fail was his persistence of being academically inept. "You simply have in your head that you will do poorly, so you do poorly. That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy and it's holding you back more than anything else you could do. We should talk about your academic progress in detail later, I am sure you are simply not evaluating your achievements in the correct manner."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Even though she had not yelled at him, he had his head ducked, his eyes seemed to race back and forth across the blanket. She had seen this previously, this seemed to happen whenever he tried hard to keep up with her too-elaborate sentences.

When he finally looked up, Yukiko was already replying. "You two should study together, Kanji-kun, I am sure Naoto-kun would be happy to help you!" Her smiles wasn't suggestive, Naoto noticed gratefully, she simply offered her thoughts. "You studied together last year, didn't you?"

"That… was what my offer entailed, yes," Naoto admitted, still looking for any reaction from Kanji.

"Yeah. Thanks." He finally lifted his head, looking right back at her. "I'd like that." Moments later he faltered and looked down, poking at his food again.

Yu smiled and took back the conversation. "So, Rise, did I just get fired as your tour chef, is that what I'm hearing?"

"Oh man, no, Senpai! You can still join in!" Rise grabbed his arm and accented with a wink, "Better to have two master-class chefs taking care of me, right?"

The conversation started to wander from topic to topic while they ate, but Naoto still had the proverbial gristle of Kanji's odd behaviour to chew. What was Kanji's reaction earlier? She kept watching him, and could see him now and again look towards her, his eyes lingering a moment, before snapping away.

That chat should possibly happen sooner rather than later. Maybe she could catch him after they cleaned up their lunch.


	3. The Shifting Sands

_Sorry this took a bit, you guys, Ikasury was buy finishing her Christmas fic, needed a break, stuff. Just so you know, both this fic and Distance Formula have stories waiting to be published, but it IS the Holiday Season and I told my co-writers and proofers to please take their time._

 _Glad you're having fun, O9K, sorry I cannot chat with you as a guest. ^^ Let's rebuild poor Kanji a bit..._

* * *

 _ **The Shifting Sands**_

Ingredients (makes one cocktail)

* 40ml Beefeater 24

* 15ml Maraschino Liqueur

* 25ml Grapefruit juice

* 15ml Fresh squeezed lemon juice

* 5ml Sugar syrup

* Soda

* * *

Eating and chatter started to wind down a bit when Kanji announced he'd take the dishes to the water for a quick rinse. Without a word, Naoto got to her feet alongside him and signaled she'd help.

They gathered up empty layers of different bentos, rice and dipping bowls and headed a bit away from their camp site in silence.

Her standing up didn't help matters. Or walking beside him, that short dress washing around her legs. Or being so _damned close_ beside him while wearing that!

 _Where had she gotten that bathing suit from? I've heard about that… thing… that Yosuke-senpai had brought 'in case Naoto forgot her bathing suit'. Typical for him, really. But this…_

He felt a shiver run down his spine.

"You may wish to consider wearing a shirt, if the wind chill is causing this," Naoto suggested beside him, observant as always – and missing the point as so often.

"'m fine."

"I see. Feeling cold can also be a side-effect of mild sunburn. You should ask someone to help you re-apply more sun screen when we go back."

 _'Are you offering?'_ was absolutely not what he'd reply to that. Instead he selected an affirmative grunt from his long list of possible reactions.

They reached a spot a fair distance from their camp site and he took her dishes wordlessly but with a smile. Kneeling in the slow surf, he scooped up a small amount of sand and water and ran his hand through the containers. His dad had shown him how to do that, years and years ago, when they had come out to the beach to fish. The sand along the shore was very fine and would help to gently clean up their dishes - at least well enough to keep overnight before they could get home and wash them proper with dish soap.

Naoto had stayed a few steps behind him, the waves barely licking at her bare feet. "You are adding sand to the water you use to rinse?"

"Yeah, 's to help-"

"-clean the dish. The abrasive nature of the sand, combined with the motion and water should help dislodge the worst of dried rice or other food stuffs." Her voice was low and even, almost as if speaking to herself. "That's rather ingenious. I can see the thought behind it, but I cannot say for certain I would have thought of this myself."

He gave her a crooked smile over his shoulder. "I wasn't the one to come up with this. My dad did, he showed me years ago."

Naoto nodded and crossed her arms, making Kanji _notice her_ and whip his head back to his task. He was deeply thankful that the water was slightly colder here. Deeply thankful.

Focusing on each dish, he hoarded them all around him in the water, then started to gather them back up. He got up with his arms loaded with different containers and dishes. They'd be wet for a little bit, but if he simply stacked them on a towel in the sun-

Naoto placed a light hand on his arm. "Kanji-kun."

He froze in place. "Wh-what?"

"Before we go back, we need to talk. You seem out of sorts. Have I somehow offended you?" When he didn't reply, she continued, "You've barely made or held eye contact with me since I changed. Right now, talking to you is as if I am trying to address a stranger. I am getting the very distinct feeling that I have either caused offence, or something else is making you wish to avoid contact with me."

"N-No! 's not that, nothin' like that. Just… You know…"

"Well, clearly I do _not_ know, else I would not ask you to clarify. Please. I thought our agreement was that we have grown to be able to depend on one another. We are friends, are we not?"

Kanji frowned at the boxes and bowls stacked in his hands. "'s really nothin'…"

Her hand didn't move. "If it indeed _is_ nothing, turn around and look at me when talking."

And she had him, again.

He had thought he had grown better at this sort of shit. At school, he'd grown used to being around her. Her school uniform helped a lot with that, as did the other habits that made her blend the lines between her physical gender and her façade presented to the world. Her cap allowed him to sneak peeks from above because she only looked up to meet his eyes if they had something to talk about really. School, meeting at Junes for homework, even the occasional walks to or from school together. All of these had grown to be summarized with his general expression of "getting along just fine". He could nurse his crush on her in the depth of his self and while his friends still occasionally poked at that topic just to watch him squirm, he kept it from her.

The next five minutes would need him to be on his toes in a mental brawl he was absolutely not ready for. Heck, he was already on the ropes, and he doubted Naoto had even taken a proper swing at him yet.

And he was too slow to keep up with her.

That slender hand on his arm tightened its grip. "I'll have to take from your hesitation that so far, you're not being straight with me." He felt the palm of her hand shift as she stepped around him. Her cool fingertips rested on his arm now and he knew if he moved his eyes just a tiny bit up, she'd be right there. "I can accept avoidance, to a certain degree, but I know you'd not lie to me outright." She paused, possibly waiting for him to talk. When nothing came, she pressed on, "I would hate to apply my professional knowledge of interrogation on you in this matter, but I could, Kanji- _san_."

His gaze snapped up and he stared into those steel-blue of her eyes the moment she changed honorifics. Indeed, the moment he looked up, he realized the mistake he made and her gaze held his trapped. But they _were_ friends, she knew all of his buttons and how to press them.

 _But this… this was just so unfair of her!_ He had to press her for weeks before she dropped –san for –kun and her going back to it jabbed at him like a hook out of nowhere.

The lines of her face softened into a small smile. "I see I have your attention now. Then allow me to rephrase. Since you will not come forward on your own, I will give you leading questions. As I stated, you may try to omit, but I know you will not try to lie to me."

The gulp was audible, he was certain. And there _would_ be no way out if she started going detective mode on him. His last chance was to react now. Now. _Now. …DAMNIT NOW, TATSUMI!_ "N-No!"

She quirked an eyebrow. "Pardon? What precisely are you declining at this juncture?"

"I mean… I… H-Hold on!" He bought himself some time by setting down the dishes, placing his hand over hers and looking to one side, getting off the hot sand and to the water line.

"You are still stalling, Kanji-san…"

He winced. "Please don't…"

"Then stop balking me!" Kanji hunched his shoulders as Naoto started to raise her voice. _Odd. I hardly ever see her just get loud with anyone – except me. So lucky._ "You are, again, not even doing me the decency to regard me. Why will you not even look at me? What have I done to cause your actions?"

"N-Nothing…"

"You are stuttering. Earlier, your eyes moved straight to the left whenever you answered one of my questions – and I do not believe I need to start a diatribe on 'Visual Accessing Cues'?" She straightened up, her eyes flashing. She was loud before, but now she started to sound upset and he knew he was running out of rope fast. "Really, it is almost textbook evasion and lies."

He gave the hand on his arm a squeeze to steady his nerves and looked right at her, stomping hard on _any thought at all_ that tried to remind him how lovely she looked, or hoped to suggest that taking her in fully would be a _great idea_ , or-. "Naoto, I stutter b-because yer makin' me nervous. Ya _know_ that. Yer seriously smart an' I never feel good enough around you. No," he cut in as she opened her mouth, "ya wanted me to talk, so lemme." She nodded agreement, but her lips stayed thin and the light frown did not move.

Kanji had wanted to bravely stand his ground, but his eyes turned from her again. "You've done nothing _to_ me an' I ain't mad or nothin'," he mumbled, hearing her mutter 'Double negative', "'s just you… Ugh!" He turned his back on her, pulling his arm free fully and punched a fist hard in his palm. "This'll not sound like I mean it, damnit!"

Her voice was very quiet when she replied, "I will know how to read it."

The hand he had punched started to grip his fist and he cracked his knuckles, shifted, let his former fist grab the other hand and crack those for good measure. Still looking down he pulled his chin towards his shoulder, turning his head just barely far enough so he could see the flowing blue-gray half-dress lightly moving in the breeze. "Ya look… y-ya look very different, today. Like, you looked great when we were playin' in the water. An'-An' now you look… just…" He trailed off and pinched his eyes shut. "Damnit, ya look g-great today. Better than I get to see ya. You know, at school? An' it's all I can do to not s-sta- I mean, I kinda want to, but I won't because that'd be pervy an' 'm better than that, but- I kinda really want to… An-An' I am just not used ter..."

No reaction from behind him. _Shit, I'm totally fucking this up._ "N-Not like you don't always- I mean- You never look bad is- GAH. _Damnit_ , Naoto! Say som'in!" His shoulders slumped, ready to be yelled at some more.

Her voice sounded oddly muffled behind him. "T-Thank you. L-Like I said, I will know… how to read your comment. Um."

Prying his eyes open, he turned half-way to look at her.

Naoto stood where she had before. She had dug her feet a bit deeper in the sand to escape the blistering heat of the top layer. The cape-like half-skirt moved slightly back and forth around her legs. He hurriedly skipped up to look at her face. Which was mostly covered by both of her hands. She had cupped her hands over her mouth and nose and peered past her index fingers at him, her thumbs lined her jaw on either side. _Fucking. Perfect... hold on._ A very light dusting of pink was on either side of her hands, not fully hidden. _Is... is she_ blushin' _? Oh man, I hope she's not upset!_

"Man… ugh, I'm sorry, Naoto, I didn't mean ta make ya-"

She shook her head strongly, her hands still masking most of her face and muffling her reply, "No, no, you only did what I pressured you to do. I simply had not anticipated to-to… I-" she spun around now and he watched her take a few deep but shaky breaths. She dropped her hands and replied without turning back to him, "I very much value your frankness. It confirmed some conclusions I had previously already drawn. I am also very sorry that my current attire is proving to be this distracting. I will go change-"

"NO!"

This stopped them both dead in their tracks. Kanji felt his blush die on his cheeks and he was certain he was turning white as a sheet. _Oh god, Tatsumi, why,_ why _do you always have to talk first and THEN stop ter think?_

Naoto turned around to him, equally pale. "I beg your pardon, Kanji-kun?"

"I-I- d-damnit, I mean, no, please, don't change. Ya really do look g-good, the girls said so, right? An' Hanamura will keep his big mouth shut if he knows what is good for him and you know how Teddie gets and Yu will be way too distracted with Rise anyhow-"

"I offered to change for _your_ benefit, Kanji-kun."

"I know, okay? I know! Buh-But… ngh." He pinched his eyes shut tightly and whispered, "Naoto, don't make me say stuff I can't ever take back." He continued a little louder as he heard her take a breath as if to reply to him, "Please. It's hot, we're at the beach. You're dressed just the way a p-pr... -girl like ya should be, right? I'll get over it, I always do. Give me a few hours, an' this will be jus' the same as you wearin' ya-ya cap at school, right?"

"If that is your wish, Kanj-"

"Yes!" His voice sounded all wrong to his ears. That just now had nearly been a whine.

"F-Fine then. Very well. I will remain in this attire for now. Under one condition." She waited again. "Kanji-kun?"

He swallowed and opened his eyes, returning her gaze.

"The very moment you feel I should change into something else- no, please!" She held up both hands to stop him from trying to cut in. "The instant you feel I should change; you will tell me. I will not need to be told any reason, if you wish it, I will change. I wish for us to be comfortable around one another. We're friends, yes?" She stopped, allowing him to nod. "More than that, our personae can understand one another deeply enough to execute a combination finisher, correct?" He managed another nod. "And I believe we can trust one another. So, will you promise me?"

He managed a mute nod. It was better than opening his mouth and letting it spill out just how _gorgeous_ she looked, really, and how much he wanted to just sit down and stare at her and just drink in the way that skirt played along her legs and how she moved when laughing and _you are not making this any better Tatsumi!_

"Thank you. Now, as I am sure you will have noticed as well, it appears our friends are too preoccupied with our conversation to actually enjoy themselves, so we should rinse these dishes once more and return." A small smile grew on her lips as she spoke.

Kanji's eyes widened and he snapped his head back to their tents, where he saw all eyes were on them. He punched the air with his right hand, slapping his biceps to show off to them. "WHAT'A YA PUNKS LOOKIN' AT?!"

* * *

By the time they had returned to their friends, Teddie was all bounciness and seemingly just being rejected by Rise-san over something or another. _Knowing our friend, it was indecent_ , Naoto thought with a fond smile. Since they had secured the Midnight Channel, they spent less time in the TV world, but Teddie had remained the main reason they would have a weekly check-in on his old 'home'. They kept their skills honed, sometimes sparring against one another, sometimes having their personae compete. These excursions were good fun and a pleasant form of relaxation from the regular pressures of school and case work. Often these would grow into rather elaborate picnics, more often than not scavenged last-minute from the Junes Food Court.

Teddie lived in the real world still, but he kept a careful eye on his old home, and he showed his gratitude to the team with unbendable friendship.

He saw her and happily chirped "Nao-chan," running at her with full speed.

Kanji-kun glowered and stepped in front of her, growling "What do you want, bear?"

The thin blonde boy puffed himself up - not something that would make any difference between him and Kanji. The taller boy had that body type that simply seemed to collect bulk in the form of muscle. "Stop hogging Nao-chan, Kanji-chan, you guys can still hang out later! I want to spend time with her now!"

Kanji blustered and was about to raise a fist at their friend, but Naoto gave him a warm smile and pressed his arm down at his side. "He does have a point. We just had a long chat, I should make some time for others, too."

She saw him give her a carefully expressionless _look_ , then grabbed Teddie around the waist and hauled him off a few meters. He dropped him to his feet and hissed in his ear, gave him a pointed look, and stalked off to rejoin the group, only to be intercepted by Rise.

Teddie piped "Meanie," and skipped back to Naoto. "I was hoping you'd help me gather up drift wood for the fire tonight, kuma!"

"Oh! Sure, let's go."

As they set out, she smiled softly. Teddie chattered about how much fun he had in the water earlier, how good all that food was, and the excitement of the upcoming evening bubbled over his lips in a near-continuous stream. He really was only a few years old at most, and his child-like excitement was highly contagious. Her mind was very much on auto-pilot as they wandered away from their camp site, chatting with her other blond friend without actually paying attention to the topics at hand.

That is, until his last sentence. "Pardon me, Teddie-kun?"

"I said Kan-chan could have just picked you up and thrown you while you threw the ball and we'd not have had a chance, kuma!"

"Oh, earlier?" She actually chuckled at the mental image for a moment, before she remembered how Kanji-kun was currently struggling with his…. _Appreciation_ for her outfit. Her mirth fled.

She trapped the left corner of her lips under her teeth and eyed Teddie a moment. Her shadowy friend was a bit of a letch, combined with being so very child-like that it was almost impossible he fully understood what he signaled with his flirtatious manner. But maybe that would make him the one perfect male to ask the question that had popped into her mind.

"Teddie-kun?"

"Yes, Nao-chan?"

Even that address he used for her and only her did not bother her with him. He meant it as friendly, intimate and loving, in the same manner that Nanako had long since decided she was Naoto-neechan. And so Teddie had become the one person in her life besides her Grampa who called her Naoto-chan, or, in his case even, Nao-chan. She had once tried to correct him on it, but she had stopped doing so once she realized calling her anything else seemed confusing to him. He had grasped the concept that -chan was used for friends, and he stuck with that one definition.

She took a small breath and asked, "Do I look… out of place?"

He stopped and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Out of place how, Nao-chan? You look like you're at the beach."

She sucked her lips back under her teeth and frowned. "I mean… do I appear strange in this attire?"

He simply turned his head a little in a questioning way, prompting her to rephrase.

She scaled down her question even more. "Do you think this bathing suit looks ... silly on me?" She fought the blush rising as he took his elbow in one hand, his chin in the other and studied her earnestly. "I-I would never have bought this; you understand? Yukiko-senpai brought it for me and I am not sure I should be wearing this. I do not want you or-or anyone else to think this looks ... weird."

After some more studying of her, Teddie nodded solemnly, then he threw both hands wide and laughed. "I think Nao-chan looks like she always does, kuma!"

She stared at him flatly. "Really. Like I always do." When his only reply was a vigorous nod, she went on, "I am showing considerably more-"

"Yep, like always. Cute and strong and really, _really_ smart and pretty!" he smiled hugely, turned and continued walking.

Naoto blinked a few times, then continued to walk with him. _That was a startlingly brief summary of, what could arguably be called my emotional qualities, but had next to nothing to do with my outfit._ Had he not understood her? While she was still trying to find out how to pose that question, Teddie continued, looking around the ground for dry wood.

"Sure, your bathing suit makes you look even more cute today, kuma, but that is just clothes. I think clothing isn't all that important, but what's inside that clothing is! Or would you say you make a difference with me being in my bear suit or in my bathing trunks, Nao-chan?"

She thought on that for a moment, then gave her friend a smile. "No, you are the same even when you have this body."

"Yep! And I am cute with my blue fur _and_ with my blond hair, kuma!"

The smile remained on her lips. Out of all the people she had to ask about her feelings of physical insecurity, it was the shadow-gone-boy who actually had gone and worked on creating his appearance – twice. Both his 'bear suit' as well as his human form were just physical representations of his true inner self. Without either, all he would have been was a formless black mass. But unlike other shadows he had not turned into an abomination, he had wanted to be considered friendly, so he made himself to be just that. Twice.

"Nao-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Why were you and Kanji-chan fighting just now?"

Her feet halted mid-step for a heartbeat, then she simply kept walking, her smile very slowly fading. Her reply was her cool and collected even tone. "We did not fight, Teddie-kun."

"You did," the boy-shadow sulked.

"Not at all. We had an argument over a very specific subject matter."

His unnaturally bright blue eyes fixed on her. "You yelled at Kan-chan. I heard it."

Her hand jerked up to tuck at a cap that wasn't there. She turned the motion into tussling her hair aimlessly. "I did not-"

"Sure, I couldn't hear what you said, but I heard you shout and you did that thing where you look as if you are about to kick Kan-chan half-way through town like you sometimes do. And he did that thing where he ducks and tries to be real small."

"There was no-"

 _stopitthinkthenanswerbadhabitoldhabit..._

Naoto pinched her eyes shut, as she had grown to habitually do whenever Yamato-Takeru piped up and she was about to speak with him. _'Hush, Yamato-san...'_

Her eyes flicked open at once again. Over the course of months and months with him residing within her, she had grown to accept him as a… comrade of sorts. He was watchful, protective of her and had more than once given her an edge when working on a case. He, much like Kanji-kun, had her back. However, he had been quiet content all day, but now of all times he woke up?

"I... I am sorry. Teddie-kun. I understand your confusion and I promise you, Kanji-kun and myself were merely having an argument. A conflict of ideals and with it pre-conceived thoughts that made me jump to conclusions. He has since cleared up any doubts and questions I may have had in that regard."

Teddie blinked at her a few times. "So… you and Kanji-chan are not angry with each other?"

"No, we are not."

"I'm _bear_ y glad to hear that. I actually wanted to talk to you about Kan-chan."

Naoto turned her head and gave the boy a surprised look. "Why? Is there something the matter?"

The look of feigned innocence set off all kinds of alarms for her. "No? No no, nothing, really. Just, you know, wanted to chat about Kanji, kuma."

Her eyes slowly narrowed. "Just… talk."

"Yes! Did you see how well he played today?"

"I noticed his attempts to blend in, sure…?" _What is he up to? Is he trying to actually make me think about the game earlier today?_ "If this is again about him catching me-"

"Oh, yes, _that_ was cool! And you two looked im _paw_ sibly good during that! Did you practice that before?"

"Wh-what? Practice what?"

"I mean the way he caught you and lifted you and then dropped you back. It looked so elegant, like he _bear-_ ly needed to think about it, kuma. He's so strong, like, when he caught you, I could see he didn't even stumble!"

Naoto's puzzled frown refocused on the sand before her, her right index finger slowly coming to rest over her lips. _He seems sincere. So not a distraction from the actual topic?_ "He- I mean, I- No, Teddie-kun, he's never…" And suddenly she realized where that pervy bear was headed. She dropped her hand, stopped and shot him an icy stare. "Teddie, are you asking if Kanji-kun has previously had the chance to try and hold me by- I-in the manner- Are you trying to ask how…" She could not even make herself say it.

Large, curious eyes turned back to her, blond eyebrows raised. "Nao-chan?"

She dropped her gaze with a furious blush. "No, Teddie-kun, Kanji-kun has never before had any need to _hold_ me, in any form. It was an improvised maneuver and we have not previously had the chance for any kind of practice." She cast a small look around them. They were perfectly alone. Whatever Teddie was thinking of doing right now, at least no one was close to hear. "Kanji-kun and I are a team, just as you and Hanamura-senpai or Chie-senpai and Yukiko-senpai. We are fully in synch and we know the motion, actions and behaviour of one another very well. It would only be natural for him to seem to have practiced a certain movement as, in a way, we have been doing that since we started working together as a unit in combat."

"Oh. You sure took a lot of words to explain that." And that was all he said. A shrug, and he looked back around to seek out driftwood. Just as Naoto thought it was safe, he continued. "Still, it looked very nice. He's so strong, it must have felt really good when he caught you, kuma."

"TEDDIE!" He stopped and looked back at the now-pale junior detective, looking away from him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

"Didn't it, kuma? Last year, during that school trip, I know he caught me jumping at him and he's _so_ strong and it was like being kept safe-"

"Well. M-Maybe- I mean. It d- It does not _matter_!"

"Oh, but it should matter! He is so-"

"Not one more word, Teddie-kun!" She held her face in one of her hands now. "Where did all of these questions suddenly come from? You never take such an intense interest in my comradery with any of the others."

"Hm? Oh, why I ask about how it felt when he-"

"Yes!" This wasn't her voice. It sounded tense and stiff and near-panic.

"Oh, it's just that when you guys left to do the dishes, Rise-chan mentioned how pretty it looked when he caught you like that, see, and how happy you seemed to be when he did." His easy, carefree smile re-appeared and he smiled at her. "And I just wanted to see how it really felt, so I asked you."

The hand that had hidden her blush traveled up and she rubbed her forehead slowly. " _Rise-san_. But of _course_." If there was any discussion on the topic of herself and one Kanji Tatsumi - at any time or any location - the smart money was betting that Rise had started the discussion and was happily guiding it to her perceived goal.

Naoto wasn't stupid. Rise had tried for months to … _arrange_ encounters between herself and Kanji. It could be that she dragged one over to the other and suddenly remembered she herself had to be elsewhere. Or she invited Naoto to go have lunch on the weekend and _somehow_ also invited Kanji and to top it off _absolutely_ forgot she had another prior engagement. She even seemed to get serendipitous text messages reach her in such situations which made her claim a hasty withdrawal or beg forgiveness for having to call someone.

It also wasn't as if she could say she disliked the attempts of her best friend to bring … _companionship_ into her life. Indeed, if Naoto had felt the need to add that specific complication into her life, Kanji Tatsumi would not be a bad selection as such. He was kind, skilled, had been her partner in the TV world for over a year and seemed happy to look out for her well-being both in the Midnight TV and out here. More than one bully changed their behaviour towards her overnight and Naoto felt it was best for her to not investigate too closely what happened to the ones who strived to make her life miserable.

Still, the way Rise-san pushed them together had grown into a distraction.

It used to cause quite a bit of friction between her and Kanji-kun. He would lock up, stutter, and try to escape the situation in any means possible. Each such encounter seemed to set their friendship back and lead to a level of awkwardness that was simply unbecoming of friends and partners on the Investigation Team. For a while even their combat had suffered, until Naoto had enough and sat Kanji-kun down to talk to him – calmly, directly, and openly.

The quality of their partnership had over the last months dramatically improved. The core lesson they had taken from their chat was "We've got each other's backs", as Kanji-kun had put it. It carried over in many aspects of their friendship. Help with homework. Assistance with dire emotional needs such as visiting her parents' grave site. Their training in the shadow world. Overall she was pleased with the place they had arrived at.

Rise, however, seemed not.

"I think he looks really nice today, too. Those swimming trunks he's in 'work really well for him'. Rise-chan said that!"

"Teddie-kun? Did Rise-san try to get you to address Kanji-kun with me in this fashion?"

The large, fake innocent eyes were all the answer she needed.

"There is nothing 'going on' between myself and Kanji-kun, Teddie-kun. He and I are friends. Partners. There are no romantic feelings, no matter how much Rise-san would wish it."

Teddie made a non-committal sound and shrugged. "Doesn't mean there never will- OH! Look! That log over there is perfect, kuma!"

"Never will – what? Teddie-kun! _Teddie!_ " Naoto gave chase after the boy-shadow, who now seemed much too happy about his find to actually register her questions.

* * *

Kanji turned to look after Naoto as she and Teddie walked away. He couldn't help it, damnit, he was a _man_ and Naoto was just so very much a _woman_ today.

Something prevented him from fully zoning out – a very giddy Rise suddenly fully attached to his arm, high-pitched squee and everything.

"You had me _so worried_ just then, Kanji! I thought Naoto was about to lay down the law on you!"

"Rise, damnit, get offame!" Kanji tried to struggle free, pulling his arm from her grasp, only to have her twirl around him and grab the other one. "Y-Yer hardly dressed!"

"Oooh," the idol purred, giving him a sly wink, "are you saying you cannot possibly control how I make your blood boil right now?"

" _You?!_ " Kanji growled.

A small fist connected with his arm.

 _Ow, yes, I totally deserved that punch, weak as it was._

"That was _mean_ , even if you _are_ still all gooey-eyed over Naoto!"

"I am _not_ … what?! Who said ah-anythin' 'bout-"

Rise's expression changed like lightning, growing serious and cool. She grabbed her right elbow with her left hand and held up the index finger on her right in one fluent motion. "Stop, Kanji-kun, unless you _really_ want me to answer that."

He did stop, the muscles in his jaw working furiously. _DAMN_ Rise Kujikawa.

He should have never told her. He should have just done what he always did and, way back last year when she had found him moping around the shopping district on his own, NOT told her about the maddening crush he had on the tiny detective.

But it was Rise, they were friends, and she looked nothing but concerned for him as she pulled him into the back alley at Marukyu Tofu and weaseled it out of him. Hugged him. Said she wished she could help.

And then, back all those months ago, there was the first time he had seen her get that _look_ on her face. A worrying blend of encouragement and determination. Whatever she had gotten into her head back then, it had led to a number of really bad situations for him and Naoto.

And, amazing as she always was, it was Naoto who fixed things up. She had sat down with him, they had agreed they were a team and got each other's backs and from then on forward, Rise could throw them together however she wanted and they had simply weathered it. They would smile knowingly, roll their eyes and Naoto would suggest reviewing school work, askin' about his current projects for the store, share a story of a novel she was reading at the time... normal things. She was also thankfully very much immune to the dreamy or longing looks he stole in her direction at times.

Rise was another matter in that regard. She would pick up on every look he dared give Naoto and read each one _perfectly_. He had lost count how often his friend had cornered him somewhere and started to grill him about what he had done about his crush - and then proceeded to be outraged when he mumbled words along the line of 'nothin', just let it be'. And she usually would, for a while. Like a day or so.

But now…

"Good!" She dropped her hands and happily snuggled up beside him, her arms actually snaking around his stomach. Kanji threw his arms wide, desperately looking over to Yu-senpai, his eyes silently pleading with him. _'She's your girlfriend! Do something!'_ The returned shrug was equally helpful. Kanji simply glared down at Rise at his side, her arms around his waist, turning him to look after Naoto and Teddie with her.

"I ain't touching ya, Rise. No way."

"Aw, but Kanji, we're friends! You've had your arm on my shoulder before!" Her eyes had an evil glint that her sweet smile tried to hide.

"Yeah, well, ya usually wear a bit more, too!"

She turned her head towards him and giggled. Then she let out a slow, long sigh, looking back after Naoto. For a moment they just stood, watching Naoto and Teddie walk away. "She looks great in that, am I right?"

Kanji let his eyes follow Naoto quietly for a while longer. No way. He would not give in to whatever Rise was trying _now_. _But lookin' ain't hurting her. An' she ain't gonna see me look._

"I mean, just look at that skirt alone! Well, butt-cape, really," she snickered, "but it looks so good in the breeze. And it really pulls your eyes right back up to her hips!"

"Yeah."

 _Wait._

 _YOUMORON_

 _'Stuff it, Rokuten!'_

Maybe if he stood _really_ still, she'd not notice.

When she just continued as if nothing had happened, he felt he had dodged a bullet. "Yeah. And that top really flatters her. Like I told you guys for over a year, she really-"

He managed to choke out a constricted, " _Rise_ ," after only half-choking a few times.

"What? It's true! I know you've looked," she poked his ribs, easily accessible as he still held his hands away from her, " _all_ of us have, Moronji!"

"Damnit, Rise, I'm no pervert!"

The slowness with which she turned her head to look up at him was what made him look down at her. "Kanji-kun. _Really_. Why does everything have to do with being a pervert with you?" She giggles and squeezed his arm. "Just looking does not mean you're pervy; it's normal! No, really! You think Naoto-kun is pretty, right?"

"M-Mor- Ah. I-I…." He turned his head away sharply, his hands finally dropping down to his sides, barely missing his friend.

"As she would say now, 'I rest my case'. So, she's pretty! That means you'd like to look at her." Her smile grew. "We _all_ like to look at pretty things, silly. A nice flower, a cute kitten, fluffy clouds," another poke in his ribs, " _and_ Naoto-kun. I like looking at her right now, too! She's lovely like this."

With that dangerous smile of hers, she turned back to look after Naoto and Teddie. His own eyes turned back as well. Naoto had stopped and she and Teddie faced one another briefly, chatting. Then he thought he heard her yell at him and his feet shifted before he noticed it. Rise, however, still clung on.

"She's okay. She can handle him."

"If that bear upsets her…" His knuckles creaked as he closed his fists tightly at his sides.

"If he did, you know she's pretty good at _aikido_. And without her gun hidden in that cleavage," she stopped, giggling at the choking noise just above her head, " _hidden there_ , he will survive. But I know he's going to do just fine."

Do? "Do what just fine, Rise?"

"Why, looking for firewood with Naoto, you heard him!"

The slow smile she gave him only made his suspicions worse. "Sometimes yer real scary, Rise."

"Aw, thank you, Kanji-kun! Mind, Naoto's way more dangerous! I heard her yell at you earlier." Her expression changed and she gave him a slightly concerned look. "But Kanji," she said softly, turning him around by the arm and starting to walk away from the others, "that sounded serious. You guys never fight. Well. You kinda _do_ fight, all the time, but never like that."

"Was nothing, really." Kanji scratched the back of his neck. "Anyway, t's my dumb fault. She got mad at me for being… hm…"

 _ADUMBMORON_

 _'I said SHUT IT!'_

"Being? What?"

"Thinkin', gimmie a sec…"

"I doubt you could have done anything that would have made her _bully_ you like that."

"She din'-!" He stopped himself and glared at his friend. "You were watchin' us, weren't ya?"

"Of course! Watching you guys always makes me happy," she said, snuggling up to his chest, "I told you that!"

"Rise…" Kanji sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "I know what yer tryin' to do, I get it. An' I think yer awesome fer tryin. But she just don' want me."

Rise muttered something.

"Mhm?"

"Nothing! Let's just say I think she needs some reminders how awesome you are! Nice going earlier when playing by the way! Real smooth…" She looked up only to find his head turned away, trying to hide a blush. "Did you… plan that? I saw you guys near one another most of that game. Hoping to bump into her accidentally, eh?"

"N-Na. She actually saved my ass out there. Yosuke-senpai is way, way faster 'n I. She just came an' grabbed the ball. And I tried to grab it an' just kinda grabbed her instead."

She trilled her idol-laugh at him. "Too bad you missed any of the really good bits, eh?"

" _RISE_!" He jerked his arm free and gave her a push against the backs of her shoulders to move her off of him. "That's it," he growled, turning back, "I've had enough. This was a stupid idea to start with. All I'm doin' here is make an ass outa myself; _yer_ not helping with your hints and giggles!"

"Kanji, no, wait!" She darted past him and stood in front of him, he arms outstretched. "Stop! Please? I'm just teasing, you know that!" He growled and tried to dodge around her, but she just side-stepped, almost as if she was dancing with him. "Well, I also want to make sure you enjoy yourself today, Moronji! Will you just _listen_!"

He stopped, his toes immediately digging down to the cooler sand. "Listen to what? Rise, ya got no idea what yer doin' ta me! You don't know what I am going through with Naoto. She'll never know- and YOU will NOT tell her," he growled, unable to keep his voice down. "This ain't some dumb game to play. 's Naoto, _damnit_ , an' she deserves the best of what she wants." He pinched his eyes shut and muttered, "An' she don't want nuthin' from me."

Rise just looked up at him and finally brought her hands around, gently placing both hands on his bare chest. Oddly, it was just a touch and did much less to him than Naoto's hand on his arm had earlier. "Have you ever, in all this time, _ever_ asked her?"

Kanji gave her a confused look. "Asked what?"

"About you and her. Asked her out. Asked her if she likes you. Asked her if she knew you like her. You know. Talked to her about the _two of you_?"

His voice went as flat as the look on his face. "Oh, yeah, every day." Rise rolled her eyes at him, one hand curling into a fist and punching his shoulder. "Ow! No, I have _not_ , because … because _why_? She'll never-"

"Not never. Nothing is 'Ever' or 'Never' until you have actually tried it."

"C'mon, Rise…"

"No! You guys are my friends, and I _know_ there is something going on. You just need some help!"

"All I need is to get back and help senpai with putting back the blankets and stuff."

"Kanji…"

He swallowed at the lump in his throat and placed his hands over hers. "Rise. Please. This is already hard enough for me. Just… stop." His gaze unfocussed, not seeing his friend. "I just wanna be her friend. I don't care if she never learned of my crush, ever. So long as I can be there for her and she can be comfortable around me." He squeezed her hands, then looked past her to see Naoto and Teddie return with what looked like half a tree. "Heh. They found a lil' bit of wood to burn all right." He looked back down, seeing Rise's eyes shimmering oddly, her eyebrows drawn up. "Hey, you okay?"

The look on her face changed as if someone had flipped a switch. "No, of course, I'm fine, stupid." She patted her hands under his against his chest. "Let's go back, I need someone to put more sunscreen on me." Her smile turned flirtatious. "Want me to-"

" _No!_ "

* * *

Rise watched Naoto closely as she walked back, her arm around Kanji's waist again. She giggled when she noticed him first stretch his arms away sideways, then huff grumpily and cross them over his chest.

 _Sorry, Kanji, but you don't get a choice in this... And you may just thank me for this later._

Teddie and Naoto had reached the tents before them, and dropped their gathered spoils. Teddie laughed at something Naoto had said and clapped his hands to remove some sand. Naoto, still smiling, turned her head in their direction and-

 _Now._ Rise looked up at Kanji and gave him an adoring-fangirl-smile, then flicked her eyes to catch Naoto frown at them with pursed lips. _Please say this makes you uneasy 'for reasons you cannot explain', Detective Prince... This is the only thing I haven't yet tried with you two dorks._

The junior detective watched a few heartbeats longer, then suddenly stiffened and stood taller, turning to walk to Chie-senpai.

Rise sighed. This was possibly the most she could get out of that situation. If she was lucky, it had indeed started up what she needed to set in motion. Hugging Kanji was fun because of his build and while Senpai was a looker, Kanji's muscle beat Yu's lean body in some aspects she had quietly _contemplated_ a few times over the last year. Besides, Yu-senpai still had that weird _thing_ going with Mariko, as much as it annoyed her, and maybe if Naoto really didn't...

But that was another matter entirely.

She hugged her tall friend once in parting and left Kanji's side and happily skipped over to Teddie. "Hey Ted! Wanna help me set up the juices and stuff for our drinks? I also need to bring in ice soon."

Yosuke, who had been moping about to himself, jumped up and walked over to her. "Ice? I could quickly drive to a small store and pick some up, if you like?"

"Aw, Yosuke-senpai, could you? That'd be awesome of you!" Rise gave her friend and proud Risetteer a winning smile.

"For you, Rise, anything." He winked happily.

"You are awesome! We will need quite a bit, so I'll come along, too, just give me a few minutes with Teddie? I wanted to ask him something."

"Sure thing, I'll need to get changed anyhow, driving like this isn't safe."

As he strode off, Rise gave Teddie a concerned look. "How'd it go?"

"Oh Rise-chan. Nao-chan is too smart for me..."

"She found out?"

"Yes. And now she'll be all suspicious and stuff. I'm _bear_ -y sorry."

She smiled and hugged him tightly. "You did wonderfully! You guys also came back just in time for her to see me snuggle Kanji."

He hugged her back till she slapped his hands off her lower back. "Ow! So why did you want her to find out why I was asking stuff? And why did you want her to see you with Kanji?" Large, confused eyes peered at her.

"She'll now be wondering why I made you put her up against Kanji, while I so obviously show an interest in him... it'll be a puzzle."

Teddie scratched his head. "I don't understand."

"And neither will Naoto-kun - who loves puzzles. Cannot leave them alone, as a matter of fact," Rise giggled happily. "And it will bother her for the next couple of hours until we start the king's game." She leaned around Teddie, smiled brightly and waved at someone. "She's already wondering what is going on right now, she is watching us." Rise giggled. "Go join the others, Teddie. If she asks, just tell her you don't know why I asked you to talk to her about Kanji."

"But, Rise-chan… I don't..."

"Good! And I'll get dressed to help Yosuke-senpai fetch some ice. We'll be back soon - and then we can start the game!"


	4. Kir Royale

_Over9000 - trust me, Rise's texting does MY OWN head in. *points at Isakury* Thankfully I had someone to write her way of texting for me, because I could not have managed._

 _Oh yes, things are getting worse for poor Kanji. And Naoto. Thankfully, she had thicker skin..._

 _RageCaje - Marvel at the Puppeteer..._

* * *

 ** _Kir Royale_**

 _Ingredients (makes one cocktail)_

* 20 ml Crème de Cassis

* 80 ml Champagne

* A fresh raspberry to float

* * *

Kanji pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them, giving Rise a long, slow stare.

"What?"

"You know I hate playin' this game with you guys."

"Oh, Kanji-kun! I _promise_ we will have sensible rules!"

Naoto plucked at the skit/cape on her bathing suit, staring into the fire. "I for one would warmly welcome those. However, knowing you and your ideas of what constitutes as sensible, I would like these rules clearly established. Before we begin." Her eyes slid sideways to meet Rise.

Rise gave her friends a winning smile. "Don't worry so much! Besides, Chie and Yosuke are in charge of the drinks, and they know what's in them. See? I put the sensible ones in charge already!"

Just then, Chie and Yosuke re-appeared from actually mixing up the drinks. "Hey, Rise, you sure put some effort into the stuff you bought! You even thought of orange peels for decoration and stuff!"

Chie nodded, handing a glass to Yukiko and Yuu each. "And I can absolutely confirm – no alcohol anywhere. So if you get the giggles again, Yuki, it wasn't us."

Yukiko gave her friend a confused look and sipped her drink. Her face brightened at once. "Oooh, this is nice! Looks pretty, too, what is it?"

"Cream of coconut milk with cherry juice. Pretty, eh?" Chie sipped her own, identical drink.

Rise watched her friends sit around the fire and chat. Seeing they were burning what looked like half of a former tree, Naoto had suggested to burn it like a "Yule log" would be burned. She had explained that in some countries in Europe, a long, single log would be placed to burn all throughout Christmas, uncut, simply pushed deeper in the fire as the flames started to die down a bit.

The idol snuggled up tighter against Yuu and sipped on her iced pineapple juice, nibbling at the quarter-slice of the same fruit Yosuke had stuck to the rim of her clear plastic cup to give it some flair.

The evening was only getting started and while it was getting late now the sun had not yet set. The idea had been to start up the fire early, so it would be nice and warm once the sun set and while they had towels and blankets all around, they still enjoyed sitting out in their swim wear.

Well. All except Kanji and Naoto, who had both gotten up at some point and returned wearing their shirts. _If they had at least gotten up to leave together and returned together_ , Rise sighed to herself. But, no, it was first Naoto, who stated she felt a small chill and had to be talked into at least not buttoning up. Then a short while later it was Kanji who left and returned with his flaming skull tank top.

Everyone else was dressed as they had been for lunch and now that Teddie brought out the snacks, chatter and jokes started to become livelier.

Sitting beside Rise was another clear cup half-filled with sand and a bunch of marked chopsticks. Kanji's eyes rested on the cup for a while, every now and again casting a scowl at Rise. And then giving a shy look in Naoto's direction, followed by a fierce blush and grabbing a stick to poke at the fire. _Can't wait, can you? Man, I know how you feel, Kanji-kun._

She nibbled on something salty and crunchy and watched the group with a happy little smile. She had secured a spot right next to Yuu; Yosuke sat on the other side of him, flicking something across the fire at Teddie. Near him sat Chie, who was busy chatting with Yukiko. Next to Yukiko sat Kanji, still poking at the fire, one arm wrapped around his legs drawn up to his chest. Teddie sat next to the taller blonde, happily chatting with Naoto, who had seated herself between him and Rise after watching everyone else around the fire and a long moment of hesitation.

That was something Rise would need to fix. Later.

Yuu turned and she lifted her head to look up at him. "I'm getting another, want something too?"

"Oh, just a TaP for now, please. Thank you, senpai!"

He smiled, nodded and got up.

Rise watched everyone closely as she was ready to pounce at any time. She needed a bit of a lull in the chatter and she was just about to get it. Jumping in the moment of quiet, she announced, "Okay, time for the _King's Game_!"

Kanji squeezed his eyes shut, much as Naoto did. Everyone else seemed to happily look forward to this, cheering and whooping.

"It's warm still, so I say we move a bit away from the fire. That'll make it easier to grab the chopsticks, too, if we're all closer together."

Naoto nodded, mumbling, "And safer."

* * *

Rise and Teddie knew the plan by heart, they had gone over it again and again. They would let the others take the first turns and if they accidentally were to grab the king, they were to not bother Kanji or Naoto just yet. Keeping an eye on everyone's chopsticks and their markings, Rise picked up the first stick, knowing it to be the four. "Aw! Not the King. Okay, who is it?"

Everyone looked at their end marker and Chie punched the air. "HAH! Tonight is _my_ time! King Chie has been crowned!"

"Oh boy," mumbled Yosuke.

"Okay, let's see… Number TWO! I demand you feed number Three a snack in a cute way!"

Yu started to chuckle and reached for the snack tray. "Can do, who is my number Three?"

Rise sulked quietly.

"Sensei! I am your number three!" Teddie overflowed with sudden sparkles. "Would you lovingly feed me some candied fruit, sweet sensei?"

Yu shook his head and grinned. "Yes, dearest Ted, I will feed you." He picked up a set of unused chopsticks and picked up a piece of dried apple. Leaning towards Teddie, he made cooing sounds as Teddie purred and _Rise felt so damned jealous!_ Also, it was the cutest thing ever!

Her senpai sat back next to her, giving her a sly wink, while Teddie was happily gushing over how he had already won the game.

Everyone placed their chopsticks back with smiles and chuckles, Chie getting a thumbs-up from Kanji even. Rise had to admit she needed to thank Chie for that command. It upheld the "No kissing" rule; it was playful and funny. The perfect ice-breaker. It would have been funnier if it had not been senpai, but there was no changing some things.

She randomly grabbed the next chopstick, found she wasn't the king and looked around the group.

"Oh. It appears I have just been decreed royalty," Naoto said with a small smile.

"Oh-HO, Nao-chan! What will your order be?" Teddie was practically bouncing while seated.

"Mhm, let's see… By royal decree… Number Two will have to guess number five's favourite colour in only three tries."

Kanji held up his number two. "Yo."

Chie gave him a big grin. "Okay, Kanji-kun, bring it!"

He snorted. "Too easy. Green."

Yukiko giggled and Chie shook her head. "Nope! Two more guesses!"

The bulky blonde spluttered. "Wait… what? Yer always wearin' green!"

"Yeah, but it's not my favourite colour, you dolt! I don't look good wearing it."

Kanji leaned back on one hand and gave his senpai a long, weighing stare. Rise wondered what was going through his head.

"Yellow then. That's always part… of…" He trailed off as Chie, grinning, shook her head.

Yukiko giggled louder.

Kanji punched a fist in his hand and eyed Naoto nervously. "Err… is there a punishment if I fail?"

Teddie replied, "Of course, there must be!"

Naoto raised her eyebrow at Teddie, then turned her head to smile at Kanji. "There may be consequences, it seems, yes."

His eyes widened and he now glowered at Chie. "Red. As red as you like your steak."

Yukiko started to cheer moments before Chie said "Aw, he guessed it!"

"HAH!" Kanji turned and pointed at Teddie and Naoto in turn. "Suck it! … eer.. I mean…" He gulped and looked away. "No, I mean, uhm…"

Naoto laughed and placed her chopstick back. "Well done, Kanji-kun, it does appear like you managed to escape dire consequences this time."

He scoffed and dropped his chopsticks back in the cup. "I still think Chie-senpai lied to make me sweat..."

"Nope! Yukiko knew the answer all along. She can confirm." She looked at her friend, then rolled her eyes at the stifled giggles and added, "Well, she could, but she is _busy_ I think."

Rise quietly squeed into her cup while watching her friends.

When the cup reached her, only one pair of chopsticks was left. She picked it up without looking, knowing it wasn't the king.

Yosuke twirled the King between his fingers and grinned around the group. "All right! Number Four! If you could just swap any skill with number Six, what would it be?"

"Well, I'm Six," Yukiko said quietly and smiled at everyone.

Rise gazed at her chopstick and realized she was Four. "Oh!" She stat up straight and eyed her senpai with a small smile. "Any skill at all?"

Yosuke nodded. "Yep, any one skill whatsoever!"

The idol giggled. "Maragidyne."

The team ninja looked at her, stunned. "Oh, hah, I had meant something tangible from the real world, but that works, I guess."

"Really, Rise? But why would you want-"

"I sometimes get so jealous just _watching_ , and whenever I watch you fight, you look _so cool_ , Yukiko-senpai!" Rise moved her hand, pretending to flutter a fan, then making a straight slash with it. "Sure, Kanzeon is awesome and I love her, she is a part of me after all. But I would love to just jump in sometimes and zap a shadow alongside you all!"

"An understandable desire," Naoto put in.

"You think so, Naoto-kun?"

"Of course." She smiled softly at the idol. "The thirst for danger, the brief intoxication of adrenaline... yes, I can see why you would envy us this, it is only natural to desire the likes. However, we have not had to fight any real shadows in quite some time."

"Yeah!" Kanji grinned, punching a fist in his hand, "It's what any red-blooded man needs to do sometimes! Uh, well, an' woman, I guess."

Naoto glanced past Teddie, giving Kanji one of her trademarked mysterious smiles.

Rise just shrugged. "Ah, a girl can have her dreams!"

Yosuke grinned and placed his chopstick back, handing the cup around. "Risette, Lady of Fiery Death! I like it. You should make a concept album based on that or something."

* * *

The sun had started to set and the team took a break to watch the sunset. While snuggling up to Yuu, Rise kept an eye on her other friends.

Yosuke chatted with Yukiko and Chie in a small cluster. Teddie had flopped down into the surf, letting the sea lap at him. Naoto and Kanji…

Rise sighed.

Naoto stood by her lonesome self, gazing out at the sea. Whatever was on her mind, it was for herself to know and Rise to wonder.

And Kanji sat by the fire, poking at it aimlessly, watching Naoto.

"Something on your mind?" Yu gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Worried about Kanji?"

"You can't tell him!"

"I wouldn't dream of it," he smiled, "but maybe this is simply something he needs to figure out on his own, hm?"

Rise pressed her lips together. _Not if I can help it._ "Come on, you guys, let's get back to the game! It'll get cold, so let's make a new rule: Everyone around the fire, but we just hand the cup and chopsticks around. No peeking! And then whoever gets the cup lasts gets the first pick next time around."

The friends agreed and returned, surrounding the fire. If due to habit or coincidence, everyone sat back down where they had been earlier – possibly in part due to how conversations had started between those sitting by one another.

Rise asked Teddie to pass the cup to her and made sure to grab the King's marker. Her eyes were on Kanji as he pulled the chopstick with the splintered end. _That's the five..._ She placed her hand, fingers spread on her leg facing Teddie. Her eyes flicked to Teddie, who had one hand facing her pressed to his knee, the thumb and index finger tucked under. _And a seven for Naoto. Thanks, Ted!_

Yosuke turned up his chopsticks and sighed. "Nope. So who is it?"

Rise flipped hers up and squeed, "Oh, it's me!"

"Yay, Rise-chan," chirped Teddie, "oh, make it a sneaky one!"

"Oh, yes, something a little bit mean! We've been much too nice tonight!" Of all the people to say this, Chie wasn't the one she would have pegged wanting something a bit more underhanded.

Rise made a show of pondering her next command. "Hm! Hmhmhm... Oh! Yes! Okay, number seven and... mhm, and five have to swap drinks, take a sip, then trade back and drink again!"

"Ooooh, nice one," Yukiko happily giggled.

Chie frowned. "Wait, what? How's that mean?" She looked at her chopstick as her friend leaned over and started to whisper at her. "Oh? … yes… Oh... OH!" The two girls dissolved in giggles.

Naoto gave Rise a puzzled frown. "What an odd command... very well, I am seven." She held out her plastic cup.

Kanji stared at Rise in confusion, then held his cup out to Naoto. "Yo. Guess we're tradin'?"

The other girls watched with bated breath as Naoto nodded and they traded cups. She gave them another confused look, then noded to Kanji, "Well. _Kampai_?"

They both drank, shrugged at one another and changed their cups back, drinking a second time. When they did, Chie and Yukiko practically dissolved in delighted giggles.

Naoto froze with her cup still lifted as they did and stared at them. She slowly let the cup sink, staring at it. Then looking at Rise, puzzlement on her face. Then her eyes travelled to the cup in Kanji's hands. He glanced at her, shrugged and drank again, prompting another gleeful outburst.

 _Go on, Detective, put all the pieces together and... Ah, there it is._

Naoto's eyes widened slowly, her eyes snapped back to her own cup, to Rise, to Kanji and she fumbled, dropping the cup into the sand before her. Kanji saw her fumble, tried to reach over to help, but instead only lost his own cup as well.

"Oh no," Rise chirped, "my loyal subjects are without drink! I shall remedy that!" She got up, walked over to Naoto and picked up her cup. Slim fingers took a hold of her wrist and a very flushed Naoto whispered at her, "Kanji did not comprehend... he cannot grasp the implication of… that you gave the order to have us..." She stared into Rises eyes, the sentence unfinished.

"Hm, Naoto-kun?"

Her voice hushed even further, "… have us… our mouths touched... it's like... _indirectly_. Rise-san, please. Do not clue him in. I am not sure he could deal with that information today."

Rise smiled brightly. "Oh, you mean like a _kiss_?" She delighted in the squirm the young detective gave. "That cannot be. We said no kisses. Oh, Naoto-kun, you just drank from one another's cup. That makes you friends, right? Nothing mean..."

She also picked up Kanji's cup and vanished to the side where fruit juices rested atop of fresh ice in coolers. And in one specific little item, looking a lot like a medicine bottle, a small amount of vodka.

She stuck the sandy cups into the trash bag they had pinned to the ground and picked up two fresh ones. Smiling, she mixed up a seemingly virgin Piña Colada for her friends. Making sure the game was still going on behind her, she stirred in about a shot glass each of the clear, nearly tasteless alcohol into the formerly virgin drinks. With a sly smile, she placed a piece of pineapple and a curl of lemon on the rims of both cups.

Walking back, she watched Teddie giggle as he and Yukiko where running laps around their seated friends as if in a cart wheel race. Yukiko laughed loudly, holding Teddie by his ankles, while Teddie kept trying to outpace her, his hands flying over the ground. Rise grinned at the two, then handed Kanji and Naoto their drinks and sat back down.

The detective hesitated before drinking. Running her thumb slowly back and forth on the rim of the cup while giving Kanji a few more flustered looks before she drank deeply. A good half of her drink vanished and Kanji actually nearly drained his, not even noticing the attention he got from his crush.

 _All good. Just need to make sure we keep them thirsty._

The next challenge had Yosuke take a mouth full of wasabi-toasted peas and keep them there for a whole minute before he was allowed to eat them. Wiping the sweat off his brow, he glared at Kanji, who had issued the order. "You bastard!"

"Hah, could have hit anyone, man."

Chie chuckled, "Yeah, and I bet I could have done it. Easy!"

Banter continued and Kanji's idea of using snacks and drinks to challenge his friends was picked up several times, giving out challenges such as trying to say "Fluffy Bunny" with one's mouth full.

After several rounds Rise snagged the King twice in a row by sheer accident and announced after the second time, "I'll not be pulling for a few rounds, can I refill some drinks?"

She gathered the orders and started to mix up a few fruit drinks. With a sly smile, she added cranberry syrup, grapefruit juice and peach nectar together in two of the cups, dropping a maraschino cherry and some curly lemon peel into each of the cups, just before she added some of the special medicine for good measure. She eyed Kanji, hesitated, and gave his cup an extra splash. _Big lug that he is, I bet he isn't feeling a thing yet..._

She handed out the cups giving each of her friends a warm smile and laughed out loud as Teddie tried to convince the others that playing the pocky game isn't kissing.

"No way, it totally is! No kissing, that was the rule," Chie growled.

"Yeah, damn bear, stop trying to get all feely with us. Once was enough, we're not repeating that, damnit!" Kanji nodded at Rise and took a swig of his drink. "Oh, man, this is nice! Sweet, fruity, a touch bitter…"

Naoto eyed her cup, looked at Kanji's and took a sip. "I concur, very nice. What's it called, Rise?"

Rise slowly grinned. "It's just a drink I came up with. Glad you like it!" The cup with chopsticks was passed to her, and she idly picked up number Three. She peered around at the chopsticks the others were holding, trying to check the numbers Kanji and Naoto had picked. Teddie's eyes were moving as well, possibly for the same reason.

Yukiko happily held up her red-marked chopstick and announced being the King. "And I want numbers One and Two to exchange drinks!" She giggled.

Rise coughed and snorted into her cup. _Oh man! This could be bad. We don't need anyone besides Kanji or Naoto to get_ a little happy _tonight._ She gave Yuu a grateful smile when he asked if she was okay, then looked directly at Kanji.

The former punk cocked an eyebrow at his drink, then held up his cup. "Twice me now, I think this game is rigged. An' I was just startin' ta enjoy this, too."

Naoto had to slap Teddie on the back several times as he coughed around a mouthful of snacks. "You are not the only one, Kanji-kun. It has now been twice me as well. It appears that there must be a theme." She held up the sticks marked One. "But at least it seems we will not be losing out on the cocktail you stated to be enjoying."

Rise heaved a small sigh of relief. At least no one else was getting the spiked drinks. She watched her two best friends exchange cups, drink, but as they were about to pass them back, Yukiko shook her head.

"Nope! You get to hold on to the cup of the other person till that drink is finished!" Then she promptly dissolved into laughter, holding on to an equally mirthful Chie.

The idol looked worriedly at the cup in Naoto's hand. Kanji had not had a lot of that drink, and it easily had twice the dose of vodka she had given Naoto's. Hopefully this wouldn't end badly.

Naoto set her cup down and leaned back on her hands, chatting with Teddie while the one filled with some sand went around to gather up the chopsticks once more.

Kanji stretched, settling his tank top back onto his shoulders, before gripping his left arm cross-wise, pulling till something creaked unpleasantly.

 _Right. Now, let's bridge that gap between these two._ Rise caught Teddie's eye and made the motion of stirring a cup to him. He nodded.

The next round, she kept an eye on Kanji's stick. She placed a hand on her leg, thumb tucked under, making sure Teddie could see clearly. He nodded at the fire, then beamed.

"I am your merciful King now! And I decree that number Six shall trade spaces with me! Hopefully putting me right next to a hottie," he chirped happily.

Rise snorted a laugh, looked at her chopstick and said, "Sorry, Teddie-kun, I'm Two, senpai is mine!"

Teddie sulked.

Kanji sighed. "Only if you keep your paws to yourself. 'm six… Sorry, Yukiko-senpai."

Yukiko took it really well, and Rise saw that her elegant senpai had already seen what that switch would do in regards to where Kanji sat now. Her smile only grew, if anything. As she patted the spot next to her to coax over Teddie. Kanji got to his feet and stopped, seeing where this was about to put him.

Naoto gave Teddie a fond smile, then watched as Yukiko patted the spot beside her… and then she froze. Rise happily cuddled Yuu's arm and watched as Naoto and Kanji just stared at each other, frozen, holding gazes in a long stare.

"You wouldn't happen to have had anything to do with this, Rise, would you?" Yuu's voice was low and she heard the broad smile in his voice.

"How could I? This was Teddie's turn!" Rise gave him a perfectly shocked look, and she _knew_ he could not read her. She was a skilled actress, after all, and if she needed, she could lie with the best.

"Ah, but of course." His answer made clear how much of that he believed.

She turned her head back to Naoto just in time to catch her moving, now settling back on her knees and, after glancing at Yukiko once more, patting the blanket beside her with a small smile at Kanji.

Kanji scooped up his drink and plopped down beside Naoto with crossed legs, glowering quietly at Teddie.

The boy-shadow however seemed to not notice any of this. He happily snuggled onto the blanket beside Yukiko, already starting up happy, sparkle-filled chatter with her.

 _Okay, we got them there. Now let's not let them think this through!_

Rise grabbed the cup, collected all chopsticks back into it and handed the cup back around.

Naoto picked up the King.

Rise noticed, but quickly stared unseeing down at her own chopsticks. _Damn, she can reverse the command right away or do something similar. I should have gone for it. But that could have been way too suspicious._

Naoto looked up, turned her head to look at Kanji and bit her lip for a moment. Then she simply smiled and turned back to the group. "I shall resume being your benevolent ruler," she announced, with a rather non-Naoto twinkle in her eye.

Rise watched how Kanji eyed her closest female friend with worry, then hung his shoulders, looking at the marking on his own chopstick.

"And as for my command, I hereby order everyone to raise their glass in a toast of well-meant compliments to number Seven. Seven, you shall thank me for this decree by giving _me_ praise." She finished by smirking and slipping the still unbuttoned shirt off her shoulders, placing it beside her on the blanket and giving everyone expectant looks.

 _She… she is smiling. And flushed. And being_ social _! And, oh dear, she's feeling warm._ Her eyes moved to Kanji, who sat beside Naoto with wide open eyes. If the little bit extra in his drink had taken any hold, he didn't show it. _Gah, this is bad. He's still way too aware of himself and everyone else. And the drink she took from Kanji isn't anywhere near empty yet._

While watching Naoto in distress over just how drunk she would be, Rise had not looked at her chopstick or listened to anyone else.

She surfaced to hear Naoto say, "That would only leave you then, Rise-san."

Looking at her chopstick, Rise saw the markings of Seven. "Oh! It _is_ me! Hurrah! Well then, let the praise flow. And I work in showbiz, I'll have you know if your schmoozing isn't up to par!" She added a wink and pose on reflex.

One by one her friends gave her praise and compliments, but all Rise could do was keep an eye on Naoto and Kanji.

Naoto had made herself comfortable, clapping and laughing at the compliments given to Rise. Her eyes shone – and Rise tried hard to find out if this was just joy or alcohol.

Kanji barely paid attention to anyone else, a bemused but happy little smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he watched Naoto from the corner of his eyes.

Naoto turned to expectantly look at Kanji and they just smiled at each other for a moment. Yukiko started to giggle and Rise gave a huge, fake cough.

Kanji blinked and turned to look at the others. "Wh-What?"

"It's your turn to tell me all my wonderful qualities, Kanji-kun."

"Oh…" His eyes snapped away from Naoto to Rise. "Oh! Right. Uhm, let's see…"

Naoto's smile started to fade and a hint of worry stole into her expression.

Rise suddenly felt her own smile creep into a snide grin. _Oh, yes! Oh, thank you, Naoto, thank you! You had forgotten about that bit from this afternoon until just now, didn't you? You had wondered what it meant when I walked away with Kanji. You worried when you saw me put my hands on his chest. And you disliked seeing me look at him the way I did. Now all your worries and confusion are right back knocking at your door._

Part of Rise felt a little guilty. She had played at swooning over Kanji just to shake Naoto to pay attention. But she knew, from her own loathsome experience, that nothing brought a woman's thoughts into order like the fear of possibly losing her man. The image of Marie-chan tried to enter her mind and she crushed the image with a mental fist. _Later. For now... Naoto._

Kanji rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at his cup. "Oh." He lit up and gave Rise a smile. "Sorry, can't toast ya, Rise, I finished my-"

He couldn't finish whatever his intended sentence was. Naoto held her cup out to him, her face solemn. Her voice had no warmth in it as she softly said, "No excuses, Kanji-kun."

He frowned at the cup, took it – and had to pull it towards himself twice, because Naoto didn't let go at once. She gave him the oddest look, then let go.

"T-Thank you? Uhm. So, Rise…" He looked down into the cup and started to slowly swirl the contents. "You're a-awesome."

He was about to lift the cup, when Chie jumped in. "Oh no you don't! We all had to say different stuff and be specific!"

Naoto nodded, keeping an eye on the blonde.

Teddie added, "You don't want to be the one Rise remembers as not knowing what to say, kuma? And just being _paw-_ some isn't enough!"

"UGH, you guys are terrible!" He pinched his eyes shut, then got to his feet. Holding his cup out to Rise, and began to talk. "Yer awesome. Yer, like, a big shot star an' ya still make time ta hang out with us. That's huge of ya. An… an' yer always there for me, y'know? Like… like when I… you know. Stuff." He ran his hand though his hair. "When I need someone?" He muttered, looking at the cup then visibly steeled himself and looked right at her, "You pretty much decide someone's a friend and that's that. No goin' back on yer word or stuff. Like… yer… yer my best friend, damnit!"

Half way through his speech, Rise had clasped her hands over her face, fighting tears. Kanji "The Punk" Tatsumi gave his praise so deeply honest and clear. She hadn't expected it, nor expected the way Yu-senpai put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her while her friend stumbled through his words.

"So… yeah. _Kampai_ and stuff." He raised his cup once more and fully drained it in one go while the others cheered him on. Rise jumped up and ran over, hugging him tightly. "Oi, _OIII_! Leggo, Rise, geez," Kanji protested weakly, trying to struggle out of the hug that pinned one of his arms against his side, holding the thankfully empty cup away from her.

"You big dumb lug… You're awesome, too, Moronji!"

He awkwardly patted her back with the hand still holding the cup. "Thanks, I guess?"

From below, she heard a low, even voice. "I believe the order was that the King would receive final praise…"

Rise turned her head to look down at Naoto, who gave her an oddly cool look.

"Oh, you're right!" Rise dropped to her knees in front of her closest female friend and smiled hugely. After everything Kanji had just said, all mischief was driven out of her and all she wanted to do was gush over her friends in earnest. "My liege! To me, as well as the others here, you are the brain and soul of the group." Still flush with the emotions Kanji's speech had pulled up, Rise felt her eyes well up again, and she reached out to take Naoto's hands. "You say the things we think, even if they aren't nice. Without you, we'd have missed so many clues. You're also very kind and outgoing towards us. You are willing to put time aside to study with anyone who asks you… well, any one of us, anyhow. You… you're an amazing person. My life would be so much bleaker without you." She smiled, a tiny tear beading at the corner of one eye. "I'll always be fighting in your corner, and I think you are my best friend."

Naoto had not moved or made a sound during this speech, and even now, as Rise had finished and the others cheered, she seemed frozen. Her eyes had started to glint and she was absolutely fighting tears as well.

Without warning, she moved, dropping her friends' hands, pushing herself up against Rise, crushing her in a tight hug.

The idol yelped. "N-Naoto-kun," she laughed, "you okay?"

"I'm wonderful," she whispered, still holding on tightly. "I needed to hear this. Thank you."

Rise knew she shouldn't, but she had to. She whispered back, "Kanji-kun was nodding the whole time. Did you see it?"

Naoto nodded, but remained quiet.

The girls parted and smiled at each other. "So far, Detective Prince, I think you have won the game!"

Naoto's smile grew wider. "Well, the logical result of this will be that everyone else needs to try harder now."

Rise sat back beside Yu, hugging him simply because she could, before checking the next chopstick she idly fished from the cup. One.

Yosuke flourished the King chopstick and grinned hugely. "My turn! You'll remember the rule of King Hanamura the First!"

"Mhm, I just bet..." Chie smirked into her cup and grinned.

"Oh, is the populous unruly? Then I shall keep them busy, to avoid a plot being staged!"

Chie froze and stared hard at him. "What are you-"

"By royal order, everyone needs to wear an item of clothing or wear clothing in a way they normally would not! You may ask your friends for help in arranging this. Aaaaand," he slowly lifted his arm, glancing at his naked wrist, "I will graciously allow you a quarter of an hour for this."

Chie shook her fist at him quietly, stared for a moment, but did not say a word. Possibly because everyone else was on their feet already, chuckling and chatting as they planned their outfits.

Naoto and Kanji still sat, both frowning at Yosuke, but it was the blue-haired girl who smacked her knees and pushed herself to her feet first. She turned to look at the blonde beside her. "Kanji-kun, would you lend me your shirt? I promise I will be most respectful in using it."

"Huh? Oh, er, s-sure. Here ya go."

She nodded, took it and disappeared to her tent. Rise got up and dashed after. "Oh, hey, Naoto-kun, would you lend me your hat? Senpai never wears hats, I wanna see if I can make him put it on."

"Sure." Her hand appeared, holding out her hat.

"Thank you!"

Rise ran back, wanting to get Yuu to put on the hat, found he had made other arrangements and instead decided to use the worthy and serious Shirogane hat in a new way.

She re-tied her hair into one long pony tail, hanging off the left side of her head, while putting the cap on jauntily over the right side. She had no mirror, but she was sure it was cute.

Kanji re-appeared, wearing his purple long-sleeved shirt slung over his shoulders by its sleeves; the sleeves rolled up into one another. He actually kind of looked like a college student like this, very sleek and smart.

Chie returned, wearing Yukiko's cardigan – and Rise had to agree. Red was not for her to wear.

Yukiko had her hair up in a tight bun, wearing what looked like Yosuke's pants. Very much like a business woman; the idol approved.

Teddie still tried to convince Chie to lend him her dress and she finally gave in, sending the boy-shadow scrambling to the tents.

Movement at the corner of her eye made Rise turn her head. And gape. Naoto appeared from the direction of her tent, wearing the bathing suit Rise had picked out. She looked _better_ in it than the professional bathing suit model could have had pictured.

The black-and-blue bathing suit was cut to ensure anything that could possibly show a low cut was used. The cut for the hips hugged very high, giving the impression her slim legs were even longer. The back showed a long, swooping drop, pretty much only suspenders for the cloth on her lower back, giving lots of room for a white lace pattern running up. On the front, the cut showing her chest was not as low – this was Naoto after all and Rise had wanted her to wear it – but the lace pattern was here, too, spanning from side to side over the middle third. Unlike the bare back, here the strings of the white lace spanned over a darker blue.

She had added Kanji's long shirt and absolutely wore it in a way she'd usually never wear one. While she had her arms in it, she had rolled up the sleeves high to her biceps and the front was not buttoned up, but tied snugly under her breasts.

 _Oh you beautiful, glorious, wonderful creature! Do you realize what you just did?_

Rise turned her head, giving Kanji a sly, wide smile.

It took him a few moments, but he finally noticed her looking and gave her a quizzical look in return.

The idol nodded her head towards Naoto, who had nearly reached him and was getting ready to settle down.

He turned his head, saw her. And froze.

Their friend leaned into Yuu and happily watched as Kanji didn't move a muscle, simply taking in his team mate. He was possibly too startled and at this point too tipsy to care that he flat-out ogled her. And she, for her part, looked at him for a long moment, smirked and waited for the others to comment.

 _Oh this is just too delicious…_

* * *

Rise decided to stop the meddling at this point. The earlier scare of swapped cups was too fresh, and besides, Naoto seemed in a very good place – as did Kanji.

She had settled back into sitting with her legs sideways, her body leaned much closer towards him. She chatted, laughed at jokes, played along with even the silliest commands and gave a few more surprising ones of her own. If this had been any of the other girls, the word _flirtatious_ would have fit perfectly.

Kanji also must have started to feel it. He dropped his shirt shortly after having to give Rise her public praise. Like the other boys, he sat cross-legged, got up now and again to fetch the girls' drinks and even mixed up a few surprising fruit cocktails for everyone.

Each time he went back to take his seat beside Naoto, he hesitated. And each time she smiled at him, patting the spot next to her. As the game stopped and evening moved into night, he kept settling down closer to her each time.

Chie and Yukiko got up and walked along the shore, watching the night sky. Teddie ran after them and soon the three of them strolled together, pointing at the glittering stars above.

Yosuke and Yuu stepped away together, Yuu muttered to Rise something about his partner having girl problems. Rise smiled and nodded. Maybe if tonight went well, she could help _those two_ dorks next.

This left her with Naoto and Kanji. She got up, walked over to them for a moment and slung an arm around each, pulling them into a hug - and closer to each other. "Thanks again, you two. I had so much fun tonight!"

"Hey, _hey_ , watch it," Kanji chuckled. He wasn't his loud, aggressive self tonight - most likely thanks to the spirits she snuck him, "Yer gonna make me fall into Naoto's lap!" He moved his arm down, leaning on it for support so he wouldn't fall onto either girl.

Naoto patted Rise's arm and gave her a much more unguarded smile. Generally, she would flush and bluster, but the small gleam in her eyes was likely the reason she was _different_ right now. "Why thank us? I understand everyone was helping you in assembling this outing? In truth, I should be thanking you. I had not contributed much, but I am having a wonderful time..." Rise leaned back ever so slightly, allowing her friends to see one another. "And I got to partake in the food Kanji-kun created. I am not a chef, but maybe you'd teach me at some point, Kanji-kun?"

"I'd love to..."

 _And exit, stage left_. "Oh, I'll be right back, I want to make sure the trash bag is secured for the night, I think we'll all be headed to bed soon."

"Ya need any help?"

"No, I'll be okay. Kanji, please, mind the fire for us."

The idol all but jumped up and darted away. They had put up tents for everyone, but some were clustered closer. Naoto and Kanji had pitched at the far sides from one another, the big tent - more of a four-sided mosquito net - had been taken down earlier and stowed. This made all tents stand in smallish clusters around the fire. Rise busied herself with actually securing the trash. She had tossed the medicine bottle away once she was pleased with where Kanji and Naoto were and she wanted to make extra sure no one found it.

She heard the low voices of Naoto and Kanji, interrupted by soft chuckles from both of them and smiled. Never had she experienced her two friends this much at ease with one another. She wished this could be possible at all without liquid courage.

She also saw everyone else return, Teddie giving a _huge_ yawn as his group arrived only moments before Yuu and Yosuke.

"Right," the petite blonde chirped, "and now I believe the custom calls for a goodnight-kiss! Please form an orderly line so everyone will get th-"

Yosuke sighed, grinned at Yuu and grabbed Teddie by the arm. "Come on, _bear_ , let's go to bed. And my tent will remain facing yours, if you try to sneak out, there will be hell to pay!"

Everyone grinned or chuckled at the scene and one by one everyone said their goodnights, picked up their blankets and towels and headed to their tents. They would certainly get ready, chat a bit, and fall asleep in no time.

Rise had placed her tent near both Naoto and Yuu, making sure to be surrounded by protection and friendship. She waved at her two friends and vanished into her tent, pulling the zipper nearly all the way down. Nearly. She just had to see what happened next.

* * *

Kanji wasn't sure when it happened, but Naoto's hand rested on his. It might have been earlier, when she had laughed about one of his jokes and patted is hand. Or maybe when Rise had shifted her closer a little while ago. Whichever it was, he liked it. It was cool, and soft and gentle. He wished it could stay there.

He wished many things. He wished he knew why she had opened up so much today and how long it would last. He wished he knew how to ever reproduce it. And he wished his heart would stop aching at every smile she gave him, at every laugh and chuckle, at every coy look.

 _Whatever this is, it'll not last. I shouldn't get too crazy._

"Hey, Naoto, lemme just take care of something..." He picked up the remaining half-log carefully. "Huh! It's warm all the way to the back!"

Naoto chuckled gently. "Of course. The remaining moisture in the wood heats up, passing along the temperature of the fire from the other end. Oh, do be careful not to hurt yourself..."

Kanji nodded and picked the log up while taking extra care to not spill hot ashes or hitting anything with it. He carried it to the shore and rammed it, ember-side first, into the shallow surf. When he was certain no dangerous heat remained that could cause a fire or hurt anyone stumbling around in the dark. He walked back.

Naoto had turned around and watched him, smiling.

"Jus' wanted ta make sure-"

"I came to that conclusion, yes. We should also bank the fire here and possibly extinguish it."

"Yeah, that's the next step. You can go lie down, I can handle this, ya know?"

She leaned back on her hands. He swallowed hard at the immediate dryness in his mouth as he watched her chest push forward while she did, her legs shifting. "No, I enjoy watching you take care if these matters. It suits your personality. Everyone else is retiring, but you secure the camp." She shifted, possibly fully unawares how sensual the small movement came across. "Besides. I am enjoying your company. Markedly, even."

Unsure on what that exactly meant, he just grunted and started to bury the fire pit in sand. Every now and again he cast a glance to the side, watching her watching him. _She's just being friendly, nothing to hope for. But you might as well give her a show while she watches! Besides, 's getting warm..._

Kanji slipped off his top, immediately sighing at the cool night air on his skin.

"Won't you be cold?"

"Na, I actually run hot. 'm always nice and toasty." He gave her a warm smile... and stared.

She held the corner of her lower lip pinned under her teeth. Leaned back. Showing herself in a way only his deepest (and most embarrassing) dreams had ever presented her to him. And in those dreams he was not busying himself by putting sand on a fire. _More like oil..._

This was his own fault. She had only started to show off after he had. But he couldn't back down now, damnit!

Having covered the whole of the former fire in a thick layer of sand to prevent sparks from flying, he walked to where they had kept their juices in coolers. Just about all of the ice was gone by now, and he shifted around bottles to carry the now-empty larger cooler to the fire. He slowly poured out the contents over the heaped-up sand, grinning at the hissing and steam as he killed the banked embers with water and wet sand.

His crush shifted, sitting up on her knees, watching closely.

He returned the cooler, redistributed the bottles and closed everything up tight.

Turning, Naoto eyed him still. He could see her eyes clearly on him in the light of the moon, could see her smile. Again she patted the blanket beside herself and again he felt drawn to do as she asked.

He settled close beside her, both facing the cooling fire pit.

"It's late," he said.

"Yes. I believe it is well past midnight."

"Mhm."

There was no more vapour rising, only a few small curls here and there.

"Say… When did we wanna leave tomorrow again?"

"There was no precise plan, but sometime around mid-day was what I assumed."

"Right."

A momentary breeze tickled up a few wisps of steam from the dying embers.

Her hand shifted, gently coming to rest against his arm. "Kanji-kun?"

He shivered briefly. "Y-Yes, Naoto?"

"It was nice to sit and talk with you today."

"Yeah. 'T was."

"And..." Her voice trailed off.

He waited.

And watched her.

And then said, "And?"

She pulled her hand back and sat up taller, looking at him. "And I am sorry if our argument earlier today has tarnished our friendship. Both Teddie and Rise seemed concerned that I was especially abrasive towards you."

He tilted his head slowly, trying to keep up. Then shook his head strongly. "Wh- No! No, Naoto, you were... you know, you were right. I was being weird. Ya did the right thing. Talkin ta me."

"I am glad," she replied softly. Then her smile came back. "Well, Mister Tatsumi, would you see me to my tent?"

Kanji possibly imagined it, but he could have sworn that he heard Rise squee. "Miss Shirogane, it would be my pleasure."

They grinned at one another as they picked up their discarded shirts and got up - until Naoto's legs gave way and she fell into his arms with a startled sound.

"Whoa, Naoto! You okay, man?"

"I... yes... uhm... I must have constricted blood flow to my legs for too long. I cannot feel my legs at all."

"You… god, Naoto, _what_?"

"Ah, apologies," she chuckled, "That may have sounded way more drastic than I meant it to. I believe my legs are asleep. Would you mind if I hold on to you for support?"

"N-No, of course I won't mind. C'mere."

She slowly wrapped her arm around his waist, and he hesitantly laid his hand around her shoulder. Steadying her, they walked quietly to her tent.

Kanji suddenly had to think of the idea Teddie had; an assembly line for kisses. 'Line up and smooch,' a mock-Teddie voice chirped in his head. He snerked.

Naoto looked up at him with a questioning smile.

He grinned and whispered, "Teddie and his idea of lining up so everyone could get a kiss goodnight."

Naoto grinned widely. "Well, it would have been time-efficient," she replied in a whisper of her own.

"Dumb bear. A kiss ain't somethin' to be efficient about. It's how it feels and making sure the ones involved are happy with it."

They stopped before her tent. "Well," she put in softly, "it was a very Teddie thing to suggest. He is always very casual about physical signs of affection."

"Yeah, I guess." He turned to her, ignoring her hands remaining around him and simply sliding to his back. In his head everything was still calling Teddie names and chuckling at time-efficiency. "I hope you'll sleep well, Naoto."

Her smile was warm. "Yes, you as well, Kanji-kun."

 _That damned bear. Goodnight kiss. Silly._ He ran his hand up from her shoulder to the back of her head, leaned down and felt one of her hands follow his movement, sliding up his back as he came closer. "Goodnight."

It took several slow moments for his brain to assemble all the pieces and assign them to the correct situation. Teddie had suggested goodnight kisses. Everyone else had agreed it was a silly idea. He had taken Naoto to her tent so she wouldn't fall over her fallen-asleep legs. She was holding on to him. One hand on his lower back; one hand curled up on his shoulder; that hand's thumb slowly rubbing against him in small circles. He was supporting her with one hand on her shoulder. And one hand cupping the back of her head, fingers tangled in her soft hair.

And they were kissing.

Both moved carefully, softly, gently, touching the lips of their partner.

He froze at just about the same moment she did.

His eyes snapped open to look into her wild-eyed gaze.

Panic seemed to slow down not only time, but _everything_. He pulled away from her, slowly untangled his hand from her hair, pulling his hand forward to rest on her shoulder again. Her hands remained where they were, but with stilled fingers.

"Uh."

"I- I... Uhm."

He took a slow step back, his hands trailing along her arms; her hands slipping to his arms and following along until he was holding her hands. He pulled open her tent flap and waited. "Goodnight then?"

She swallowed, allowing herself to slink into her tent quietly. She hesitated before pulling down the zipper and said softly, "Sleep well."

Kanji stared at her tent, pinched his eyes shut, then turned to walk across their small site to his own tent.


	5. Virgins on the Beach

_Hi guys! Not sure why your recent comments are not showing, but i did get the email notifications, so:_

 _RageCaje - well, this IS Naoto Shirogane... :) Will look forward to hearing how 'passes' work for you!_

 _Over9k: An evil and scheming Rise is all Isakury's fault, I swear, mine USED to be much sweeter. . The toasts, well, I wanted to show how the three of them have grown to be close friends. The toasts reflect that._

 _Hands. - Weeeeell..._

* * *

 _ **Another update: As we have had some troubles with bullies pushing people about the contents of their stories - I am removing a lot of stuff on FFN as a reaction. If you wonder where to find my stories in full form: Archive of Our Own has a WishStone account as well.**_

* * *

 _ **Virgins on the Beach**_

Ingredients (makes one cocktail):

* 120 ml cranberry juice

* 120 ml grapefruit juice

* 45 ml peach nectar

* 1 maraschino cherry

* * *

Naoto knelt in her tent, her right hand tightly gripping her left shoulder. Her mind raced, but despite all her attempts to bring a semblance of bearing or direction to her thoughts, she found herself repeatedly stuck in the last few minutes.

Slowly she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. _I am a Shirogane. Nothing unsettles me like this!_

First point of order was quenching her physical signs of flight-or-flight.

Her heart thundered in her chest. Her breath was short and ragged. There was an uneasy, nearly fluttery feeling in her stomach. Surely this was the easy bit. She held her breath a moment, forcing her lungs to build up a need for air, then exhaled deliberately. Her next inhale was just as slow and deliberate, no matter how much her body screamed for more.

Generally this would also slow her heart rate but it seemed nothing would tame the wild rhythm it beat right now. It felt similar to the feeling she could have at the end of a long day pouring over case files on her own, when the eighth cup of coffee finally called in tribute for its work.

The shivers that ran through her were not from cold. Neither were they from caffeine or other stimulants she had added externally.

 _Unless,_ she mused, _I start calling Kanji-kun a stimulant._ The moment the thought came, she froze, her eyes widening. It came to her unbidden; she herself was not even sure which part of hers – or Yamato Takeru's – had brought it forward. She had the feeling, however, that the thought had not fully been her own, as the implications of it made her eyes widen, her heart leap back into a hard, fast pace, her breath caught and she nearly gasped.

 _NO._ There had to be an explanation for what just happened. Something logical. A misunderstanding. … _No, there was little to nothing one could misunderstand._ Or maybe she had to consider it was simply him being forward… _Then why was my hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer?_

She shivered again, pulling her hands around herself tighter.

None of this made _sense_. Neither of them had been signaling they wanted to kiss. She had seen, often unwillingly, enough romance movies to know the queues. The longing glance, the bitten lip, the often shaky hands touching each other's face. None of these signals had been exchanged - they simply were apart one moment, and holding one another close the next. _Why can I not remember? Why can I see, feel... why can I not picture the exchange of consent?_

Still, there was the echo of proof... She raised her fingers to her lips. _Right there_. The shadow of the kiss _lingered_ in a frighteningly unfamiliar way as few touches in her life ever had.

Naoto Shirogane could be said to be a few things. She could be distant, aloof even. She could be cold in her clarity and deductive in her straight-forward mind. She could even willfully ignore social cues in favour of a possible advancement through a block to a desired end result. She was brilliant in her academics. She was leading the field, even at her young age, when it came to detective work. She even developed more than one new method of data evaluation by now.

What generally was not said about her, was that she scared easily. Or that she could even be scared over any non-lethal situation.

But here she was, slowly curling in on her side, painfully confused and very, _very_ scared with what was happening to her. Absolute and utter loss of control was not something she handled well and it had been over a year since she had to last face such a helpless situation.

###

Long legs had fallen into an easy rhythm. The stride was reaching, but Kanji's legs no longer pumped as if he was trying to outrun a cop car.

The moment she had ducked into her tent, he blinked, punched the air with a grin and turned to his own tent. But on the way there, that question came. "What just happened?" And since it had entered his head, it had refused to leave. After pacing between the tents, trying to slow down the building sense of dread and panic, he just suddenly bolted and started to dash along the shore, the wet, even sand allowing him to sprint for a long while, before falling into the run he seemed to have been in for a few minutes now.

 _The_ hell _happened just then?!_ The question repeated every three dozen steps or so, and every time it came back around, he tried a new answer, a new solution, but then his brain balked and simply threw the question back at him.

 _The hell happened? - She pulled me in and kissed me! But I didn't exactly fight it, did I? No..._

 _What happened there? She looked so cute, I had to just scoop her up and kiss her. But she went with it..._

 _But how did it happen? I just don't know! one moment we're sort of jus' talkin' an' then we jus' went fer it?_

 _Did she event want that? Shit, what would she be thinking of him now? Oh gods, I hope she ain't mad._

 _What was that? A kiss, you stupid dumbass! I don't know why or how or anythin' either, so STOP ASKING!_

Kanji slowed down and finally stopped running. He turned, panting, looking back, then looked forward along the shore. He didn't know this stretch of the beach very well, so he didn't know what lay ahead of him in that direction. He should possibly return. He was half-naked, in swimming pants, in the night, alone. While the last summer was mild, it still wasn't a good idea. Could possibly get in some kind of trouble for it, yeah?

But turning back around held another unknown.

 _Naoto... do you know what just happened? Can you explain it? ... man, I wish I could just talk to ya. Yer the smart one, damnit..._

 ** _WHY RUN AWAY_**

 _'Rokuten, I swear, now is no-'_

 ** _WILL YOU LISTEN_**

 _'Why the hell would I, damnit?! All you ever come up with is Zio-based with a hint of beating someone up!'_

Kanji panted heavily in the sudden silence within his mind.

 ** _I AM YOU_**

 _'And you are_ fucking _scary at times. This is NOT something you should get involved in.'_

Again, silence.

 _ **RUNING AWAY** _ his persona all but scoffed at him.

Kanji snorted. _'Points for mister obvious.'_

 ** _RUNNING AWAY FROM WHAT YOU WANT THAT IS WHEN WE MET FIRST_**

For Rokuten, this was an evening-filling speech. Generally he only hurled insults at him, or screamed incoherently when in combat. This was... new.

The problem of having a conversation with someone who lives in the back of your mind is that you cannot simply _not say_ something. It all comes out, one way or another.

 _'Can't help it, Ar Em. This is_ Naoto _. Nothing in my life is as scary as thoughts of her. Hell, I'd try to face down Izanami again_ on my own _over going back to her tent now. Can't do it, see? Can't face that.'_

 ** _YOU WANT ONLY DREAMS_**

 _'...yea.'_

 ** _COWARD_**

Kanji just flinched. _'Tch. What do you know, anyway…'_

 ** _SAD STUPID HELPLESS COWARD_ _GO_**

And his feet set in motion, not running, but walking swiftly back towards the tents. He had no idea what would happen when he got there. If he had any say in the matter, he would simply go into his tent, slip into his sleeping bag and try his best to forget what happened.

* * *

 _thelogicaloptiontofollowistofindhim_

Naoto stood up from beside Kanji's tent. He wasn't in it. He also was not found anywhere near the supplies, the drinks, or the food.

 _'You always sound surprisingly silly when you are playing at being me, Yamato-san'_ she supplied absent-mindedly to the conversation in her mind.

Trilling laughter from the tiny persona was her only reply.

The problem was, he had a point. After she had finally decided she needed to clear this up right away and not let anyone involved sleep on it, she had started looking for... for her friend, but he was nowhere in the camp. The waxing moon combined with the light sand was enough to let her get a good look around, and as had been established, she had very good low-light vision.

This, combined with her detective's instincts, made her look down and see a trail of deep foot prints, spread far apart and spraying up considerable amounts of sand with each launch forward. Someone tall had made these, someone who sprinted. Had Kanji actually run away?

She untied his shirt from around her shoulders, dropped it into his tent, closed the zipper and turned to the fresh trail. In the distance she thought she could see someone and, throwing caution to the wind, set out to run after them.

She picked a long-legged run that could keep her going at a faster pace for a while, the kind she would use when running laps at school during physical education. For a small moment she realized she had replaced her worrying over... what had happened with her innate sleuth's bloodhound instinct of finding her pray. _So you now consider him prey to hunt down?_ She stopped that thought, instead allowing herself to be on the chase and only thinking about finding Kanji. That would be the first step anyhow.

It did not take long for her to notice that the figure she had seen in the distance must have been headed her way, as they rapidly approached her. She slowed down, realizing for a disquieting moment that she was wearing a rather revealing bathing suit and nothing else, carrying no armament of any sort and the person could very well be a stranger. Oddly, that thought did not whip her into as much of a frenzy as any others she might have already had that night.

She changed her run into a slow walk and readied herself for the approaching person.

When she made out bleached blond hair, she stopped and waited for him to approach.

He, too, slowed and stopped. It looked like he was talking to himself before he stood a little taller and resumed walking towards her.

Just a couple of paces away from her, he stopped.

In the dim light, she could see the glint of his eyes as he looked her over slowly, then sunk his head, looking down.

"Kanji-kun..." Now that she had found him, what was there to say? She still was not entirely sure what had happened. But with everything that had happened today, she felt that they ran the risk of seriously harming their friendship. "I..."

He lifted his head. "What happened, Naoto?"

 _Trust in Kanji Tatsumi to bluntly charge into the fray._

His gaze made her flinch. His eyes had a deeply hurt look and his stance shifted, hunching him down a little. He looked incredibly vulnerable.

"I, too, cannot recreate all of the details for myself," she admitted softly. "I can only recollect the most obvious moment..." She stared at his hands, gripping each other, knuckles creaking. "...as it would appear you can, as well."

"Yeah..."

She pressed her lips together and took a step forward. "Kanji-kun, for the sake of our friendship, we should possibly chalk this experience up as something that happened from fatigue and-"

His head snapped up and the deep frown on his face made her stop. "Yer tryin'a explain this away? Just like that?"

"It was a long evening, the atmosphere was very relaxed and I am sure-"

"No."

"Kanj-"

"NO, _damnit_ Naoto!" He punched his palm so hard that he actually flinched at the impact of his own fist. "I'll not let you. Not tonight. Usually you get your way with me, but not with this. Not until I understand why you'd kiss me!"

His challenge started to push every fiber of her _self_. The upbringing she had enjoyed, being Shirogane, meant that any mystery put forth was to be explored and explained. But in order for that to happen, the base mystery needed to be seen first. What was the core of the situation?

She straightened, fire in her eyes as she softly replied, "I didn't kiss you. I could not, even if that was the set goal. You are much taller than I am, I could not possibly reach. _Ergo_ , you must have leaned in and initiated the kiss. _FURTHER_ " she said, snapping up both hands as he bristled to reply, "I can distinctly remember your hands holding me closer. I merely followed along with your lead."

He leaned into her, glowering. "Then why didn't ya push me away? Instead you held me. Your hand was on my friggin' shoulder and I can _still_ feel your thumb... gently..." His mouth snapped shut and he simply stared at her.

He had a point. A very direct approach to the situation at hand and a very clear explanation of what happened. For just a moment she had forgotten her own hands betraying her enjoyment of the situation, forgot the slow, soft strokes her thumb had made against his warm skin as her hand on his shoulder coaxed him closer.

She swallowed. "Very well, I concede there may have been a... momentary confusion on both of our parts in regard to... that." She willed the explosion of butterflies in the pit of her stomach to withdraw. "So maybe it would indeed be agreeable to-"

"Yer jus' as damned confused an' scared as I am."

Her mouth snapped shut again. Her jaw set and she growled, "I am not scared." No Shirogane was _scared_ of a mystery. They might be bested by one, and this one was confusing on so many levels. But she was not _scared_ of it, or of finding out the solution to it, fight-or-flight reflexes or no.

He stepped closer to her, looked down, frowned, then slowly eased his legs apart sideways, his feet digging into the sand, slowly inching himself down to her eye level. Leaning forward he softly continued, "Yer scared, damnit, and I wanna know why. I ain't a bad guy. I didn't take advantage of ya. I don' wanna think you believe I just… just went for it without care."

She tilted her head sideways with a mocking smile. "Oh, _now_ you say you didn't want it?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Ain't a liar, either. Cannot say I ain't wantin' ta kiss ya even now..."

She took a step forward, closing their distance. What he said struck a chord deep inside of her. No one had ever before simply stood before her and expressed such a deep and honest physical attraction to her.

He opened his eyes, saw her closer and leaned back a bit. "Wha-?"

"D-Double negative," she whispered. A shiver ran through her. Forcing her lungs to work and deliver her next words properly, she fell back on her practiced habits. A hand settled on her hip, feeling the high cut of her swim wear and making her stop for a moment. His eyes had followed her hands and now remained on her hip. She watched his eyes as they slowly trailed back up to her own. Saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed hard.

 _Well, if this is putting him off-balance, if even only a bit, only the better._ She pulled herself up and tipped her chin down before she continued with her even, practiced tone, "Right now, this is just a random, single occurrence. Nothing factual can be gained from this." She reached out, part of her crying out in panic, part of her remembering his challenge. "It will be easy to ascertain the nature of this."

Her hands slipped over his cheeks, both thumbs coming to a rest near his ears. She kept her eyes open as she leaned in, their gazes locked. She shivered as their lips touched and his eyes slid closed almost immediately. Her fingers slowly tightening around the side and back of his head, she found her thumbs slowly stroking against his ears, her own eyes falling shut. Shaky hands came up to hold her hands and she felt the shiver race through his body only moments before it hit her, like a passed-on electric charge.

And then she noticed something else. Something between them, something in their halting, uneven breath. She broke the kiss, their faces close enough that the sides of their noses touched. Taking a slow, shivering breath, everything fell into place. This was not simply normal attraction, and she had just found her proof. "Kanji-kun. I am... so sorry."

His hands held hers, his eyes remained closed and his breathy "Wh-" was all she could possibly allow him.

"Our drinks. Someone appears to have 'spiked' them. Both of us have the faint scent of alcohol on our breaths. It explains everything, I'm afraid. My legs giving way earlier was not due to them having fallen asleep, I was... tipsy. It also explains our lapse of recollection and the... the... first kiss. Alcohol", she said softly, pulling her hands out from underneath his, "is known to remove inhibitions. We simply are not being ourselves right now."

She watched as he let his hands fall; his eyes opening. "Yer sayin' none a'this matters..."

"I am very sorry. I will go back and endeavour to find out who'd play such a cruel prank on us."

She turned - and stopped when she felt him grab her wrist roughly. "Wait!"

She stopped, but did not look at him. "I'm very sorry Kanji-kun."

"Yer tryina tell me that you'd never have kissed me without bein' drunk?"

The hurt in his voice was unbearable. And what made matters worse to her - she had no immediate answer. She wanted to be able to give a direct, clear, precise reply. But her analytical mind picked up his question and started to slowly turn it over inside her head again and again. _Would I? I've never honestly considered it. I have, frankly, never considered kissing_ anyone _._

 _andwhataboutthenightswhenyouwake-_

 _'No, Yamato-san. Those are_ different _-'_

 _anditsalwayshim_

She left the conversation with her true self as the grip on her wrist tightened and Kanji haltingly continued, "I-I know I'm no Yu-senpai. All the girls want him, damnit. An'... I ain't the smartest or most handsome or any a'that." He cursed softly. "I ain' all that or nuffin. But, please Naoto. _Please_ don' jus' walk away from me here. Not... not like this, man."

It was odd. The more he listed his apparent non-desirable qualities, the stronger that uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach grew. _Would I have kissed him without being drunk?_ She looked down at the hand on her wrist. _If I extrapolate this feeling, right this moment, and compare it to how I have ever felt around anyone else before... There is no one else close to this._

She took a step back while crossing her caught hand to rest on her opposite shoulder. In one flowing motion, she had placed herself against his chest and pulled his arm around her shoulder.

Leaned up to him, she felt his heart hammer between her shoulders, felt his breath stop before a hard sigh was breathed against the back of her neck. He released her wrist and placed his hand over her own with a shudder.

 _This feels… unbearably good. I should not have done this._

When Naoto finally found words, her voice felt oddly strained and sounded delicate, even to her own ears. "Kanji-kun... I... I've never considered romance to take place in my life. And I have never considered anyone in the investigation team as a possible partner for it."

He did not move. Did not reply, either. They simply stood as they were. Her back, thanks to the low swooping cut of her bathing suit almost bare, pressed warmly against his own bare skin.

She felt something fall on her shoulder, and when it moved, trailing coolness. She realized it was a tear. Meaning to turn, she felt his grip tighten on her, stopping her motion. "So... yer wouldn't have. I'm an idiot-" His voice hitched uncomfortably and silence crept back.

She turned her head a little, looking down at the hand resting on hers. The pale light allowed her to confirm with her eyes the shiver she had already felt. Slowly she moved her hand, bringing the back of his up against her cheek and closed her eyes as she snuggled against it. "I do not believe I would have kissed you tonight, no. But..." She halted. What she was about to say was outrageous, unfounded by any logical deduction and very unnerving. The words were lined up, ready to be spoken, ready to be admitted. All of today had very much lead to these words. _If only... But..._

 _But what, Shirogane? But now that you think about it, it seems like a nice idea? But now that you_ have _kissed him, things have changed? But now that you did, you keep thinking about it and long for more?_

His hand slowly turned over. His thumb stroked her cheek, his fingers gently pressed against the tender skin surrounding her ear. "I am sorry, Naoto. I simply wanted to see something that wasn' there." She felt his brow slowly press against the back of her head. "Dunno if it's because we're drunk, but I wanna tell ya-"

"Wait," she cut in, speaking over him. She knew what he was likely to say. She had known what he wanted to tell her. She even had proof for her suspicions, in the form of his shivers, his voice. She had taken for granted that he did, had in secret sometimes basked in the looks she got, but never acted upon it.

 _becauseyourescared_

 _'...Yes, Yamato-san. Because I am scared."_

 _feelhishandheisscared_

She snuggled into the large palm of his hand and softly continued. "I would not be opposed to exploring the possibilities that could present themselves over having a romantic affair with a warm, kind, and willing young man... s-such as yourself." Her last words were a whisper so quiet that the soft sound of any wave would have swallowed. As it stood, the night was quiet, the sea calm, and the waves lapped at the shore quietly.

Still, Kanji seemed to not have heard her. A second tear dripped from her hair onto her neck.

"Kanji-kun?"

"Ya don't have ta be so damn nice about it, Naoto. _Damnit..._ I had just hoped that you could..." He choked and pulled his hand back, stepping back at the same time. As she turned, he roughly cleared his throat and turned his back on her.

"You misunderstand. I am saying that I would be inclined to investigate a possible deeper relationship with you." No reaction. "Kanji-kun?" Silence. "I believe your instinct that we need to speak about this may be correct. We do need to talk."

"You said ya'd change. If I ask ya to."

She blinked. Had he been listening? "Yes, earlier today, but I-"

"I'd love ta talk. But I can't. Not like... not when you look so..." Another muttered curse. "Naoto, if I look at you and I see ya like this, I can't think. ...barely breathe, really," he whispered, just audible. "Let's change and sit back by the fireplace, okay? I'll... I'll just be a minute." With that he turned and ran into the cooling water of the ocean.

"Kanji-kun!" He didn't turn back again, diving into the calm waters and taking several long stroked through the water.

Had he heard? Did he not understand? Or did he still believe that she was just trying to let him down easy? _Or had he now decided that it would not be a good idea to try after all? Were those tears him letting go and I have already missed my chance?_

She turned, feeling her own eyes sting. _Ah... this is rejection._

She ran. She didn't pace herself this time, didn't think about her breathing, she just ran.

Maybe this could still be salvaged. She needed to understand what was going on with herself and the key to that was Kanji Tatsumi.

If she was being honest, she had enjoyed the kiss - and her body gave her the same signal each time she thought about it. She also had very much wanted to continue their second kiss, but her own foolish analytical mind had broken it and tried to rationalize it. Why? Why try to explain it? Why did it matter so much to her?

Over and over both kisses started to repeat in her mind - with the same result each time. That same explosion of butterflies in the very pit of her gut; the catching of her breath, the rush of adrenaline.

That rush was it which propelled her to and into her tent in moments and had her kneeling, shivering. She slipped out of her loaned bathing suit and looked around for some more normal attire.

And stopped.

Rise had, after she had changed, placed all four loaners into her tent. And there lay the two-part she had outright dismissed this morning as being too risqué, too revealing, too provoking.

She did not hesitate. She slipped into it, tied it closed in front and left back outside.

She saw him in the water. He was swimming back, his arms pulling him forward in long strokes. He wasn't out very deeply, just enough so he could stand, she guessed.

When her feet set into motion, all her relational feelings and thinking withdrew. She felt the same rushed mix of panic and excitement she felt as a child when she pulled herself up on a high tree branch and started to balance out, away from the trunk, nothing but her own sense of balance holding her.

Only this time, each step came with thundering heartbeats and painfully tight breathing; each stride towards Kanji made her insides clench.

* * *

Kanji ducked under water for a few moments then surfaced quietly. No use splashing about and get anyone too curious. He had wiped away his last few tears and cursed himself for each one.

She didn't want this. Not really. They would sit down and talk, like they had months ago at Junes after Rise had tried to get them on a date again, and she would explain all the ways why their friendship mattered so much to her and he will agree and she will smile so pleased and happy and his heart would break, _again_ , and they would reset to being friends.

It hurt so much.

nearing the camp site, he slowed down and stopped in shallower water. He was on his knees, the water up to his throat, looking out to sea. When he stood still, the waves barely broke the surface and he could see the stars and the moon reflect in the water, barely disturbed. It was quiet, and if he knew it, _serene_ had been the word to pop into his head.

As much as he had wanted the kisses to mean anything, maybe Naoto was right. If someone had gotten them drunk, then the first kiss was a slip-up and the second one was simply her confirming a theory. Neither mattered. As much as he wanted to believe she would ever want to kiss him for any other reason.

He ignored the small splashes behind him until felt a hand on his shoulder. Kanji lifted his to pat it lightly in return. "Yer crazy, getting in the water like that, Naoto. Catch ya death."

"While the water is actually quite mild, I would need to ask in return: Then why did you enter it?"

 _To chill. To cool off. To make sure you'd not see what happened between my legs when your silky skin pressed against me and you turned around and I saw-._ "Felt like I needed ta... I..."

There was a deliberate shift in her voice and the message that came with it froze him in place. "You wanted to hide your arousal at my appearance."

"I-I..." he growled, "I ain't no pervert."

"Maybe not." She sounded way too damned amused. "But maybe you are simply taken by me, and there would be no perversion in that..."

He turned his head to his side as her hand moved. She stepped around him.

His heart absolutely stopped.

* * *

...as did the story.


	6. Bitter Experience

_I lied. It's seven chapters. Let me explain:_

 _This isn't 50 Shades of Grey. Even though there is a ... goal in all of this, this story actually HAS plot and has characters that I kinda care about and want to bring closer to my readers - even though you KNOW all of these dorks. Plot bunnies happened, explanations needed to happen and, well, chapter 6 ended up being 21.000 words. I could publish it all in one go, but FFN isn't a book you hand comfortably hold, it'll be read on a monitor. Not gonna do that to you guys._

 _WITH THAT SAID:_

 _Biggest of thanks for Ikasury, who kicked the story into action and sacrificed her sleep last night to finish editing this monster - while adding seven sentences to it, and, damnit, made it better with that addition. ._

 _Also thanks to the useual suspects reviewing and giving props, RageCaje, Over9000, Mr.88 , IndescribableBLT , Handsomistic1 and welcome to the mix crazycarl364 ^^_

* * *

 _ **Bitter Experience**_

Ingredients (makes one cocktail)

* 60 ml orange juice

* 15 ml lime juice

* 60 ml sparkling bitter lemon soda

* crushed ice

* lime and lemon peel for decoration

* * *

Rise Kujikawa, second year at Yasogami high, sat down at her small mirrored vanity and started the slow, deliberate motions of her morning routine. Foundation, two soft shades of eye liner and shadow, a hint of powder and blush - she hardly paid attention to what she was doing. It would come out all right either way, especially seeing it was only for school.

Her mind was about a month in the past and with the tiring, sticky lump in her stomach that had started to grow then and had not budged since.

She had woken to what sounded like a small cry not very far away. She eased up the zipper of her tent and saw, some distance from the camp sit, two figures in the water, embracing. Her immediate reaction was to clasp both of her hands to her mouth to stifle the happy squeal that tried to burst out. Sure, it could have been several people, heck, could have been two strangers, but she was convinced it had to be Kanji and Naoto. She couldn't make out much, but after a few minutes she saw them turn together and she realized one was carrying the other. Dealing with the romantic image of it all was hard enough, until she noticed that both of them seemed to be naked.

She scooted away from the tent flap. _Oh man! This is getting a tad more real than I really wanted._ Or did it? Maybe them having a tussle would be exactly what they needed... but, no, that was stupid, that could lead to all kinds of problems. She bit her lip and slid back to watch what would happen. As she looked on, Naoto strode away from him, tall, deliberate, looking as if nothing at all unusual was going on. Kanji watched her, then splashed out of the water and ran to his tent.

With a tiny sulk, Rise had slunk back into her tent. The two of them sharing a tent would have been way, way cooler. And, she had smirked, possibly noisier, too.

She stopped, in the here and now, as she drew the thin line of dark green eyeliner, complementing the turquoise eyeshadow she had picked.

 _Oh my god. That was when it must have gone wrong already._ What had happened between the running away and the outcry that woke her up?

And it was her fault-

She dropped the eyeliner, scrambled for tissues and roughly pressed them to her eyes, careless of possible smudges.

Her memories disobediently reminded her of the next morning. Naoto, funny, relaxed Naoto from the day before was gone. In her place was Detective Shirogane, who growled at her they needed to talk. "Now."

They walked away from the other tents and Naoto informed her she had noticed that her and Kanji-kun's drinks had been spiked. As Rise tried her best to look innocent, Naoto simply gave her one of her cool, angry _looks_. She went on to inform Rise that whatever her ultimate goal had been, she was disappointed in her as a friend for allowing such a disgrace - less hinting and more telling her that she knew it must have been her.

Naoto then simply walked away and started to pack up. Rise tried to speak to her, but was stared at coldly till she left. None of the others dared approach Naoto after that. Kanji appeared briefly, saw her pack, froze... and returned to his tent. He ended up being the last one to leave and none of the others saw him the rest of that day. Or weekend.

She also saw Naoto hesitating before leaving, her eyes fixed on his tent for a moment. Then she turned, looking directly at Rise, and left.

Rise had tried to stay behind, told the others she had promised to go home with Kanji a bit later, and everyone mutely disbanded shortly after polishing off leftovers for breakfast.

She tried calling him. Tried to sit by his tent, just talking to him. Tried to bribe him. He did not react. She wanted to just pull up that stupid zipper and go into his tent, but, really, that was just as bad as going to his room.

She wandered along the beach a few times, told Kanji she was 'stretching her legs just for a bit', searching. She spotted what she had assumed to find in a small bay a bit further along the beach, away from their camping location. She found no actual joy in finding the bikini, but rinsed the sand out and took the items with her. The idol wasn't exactly sure why, but giving them back seemed as much an invasion of their privacy as telling the others what she had seen last night would have been.

 _Why will neither of you talk? To me, to one another? What the heck happened between you? What did you do that ..._ Rise's thought trailed off, as they often did when her brain started to suggest that maybe one of them had been improper. That what she had seen was the end of something very much non-consensual. That they had been _too_ drunk after all. That one of them had managed to push the other into moving too fast.

Swallowing a sob, she tried to force those thoughts away. Until Naoto and Kanji would speak, to each other or to her, none of these thoughts would change anything. And there was the chance she simply was wrong, too

She had spent the last three weeks in ever-growing worry. Both of her friends looked a mix of afraid, guilty and angry. The overall miserable situation had driven their senpai to suggest to Rise to just go out and do stuff. Without those two. Because they clearly needed some time for thinking.

Rise started to split her attention as much as she could between their senpai, Kanji and Naoto. It wasn't easy, but she made it work. Naoto, after some probing and several apologies (without ever actually admitting to spiking the drinks openly), grew to accept Rise back into her better graces. They spoke, if less, and when Rise made a point to hang out with the junior detective, Naoto would focus on school work with her and not allow any other topics - especially not Kanji. She had, at first, tried to bring him up to her, but that ended swiftly when Naoto delivered a speech on privacy, an idol being the last person she would expect to disrespect such a cherished thing and how discussing _Tatsumi-kun_ would not help her rebuild any weakened trust.

Then there was Kanji.

He was moody before. Could change from mellow into angry in a heartbeat, especially if she teased him about Naoto.

Now...

Now she avoided mentioning her, because the first time she did, a week after the trip, he locked up, stalked away... and she found him outside, hiding from everyone, both hands covering his face. When She finally saw him again a little later, his eyes were still a tell-tale light red.

Rise still tried to suggest gently that Kanji should let her know what happened, still suggested she could help, still hinted that maybe there was a misunderstanding of some sort.

She had finished her morning rituals on auto-pilot, picked up her lunch, school bag and walked north, towards Tatsumi Textiles. She would simply have to keep trying. Either she would find out what happened and how badly she had screwed things up between them, or she would find a way to at least fix their friendship.

* * *

 _I should play the lottery. I totally called it._

It had been a whole month now since their beach trip. If Naoto was ashamed of what had happened or not, Kanji still did not know. They had not spoken outside of school-related stuff since then. And there was no other time to actually try to talk to her outside of that. She darted out of the school building every day as if he was actually going to chase her down. And if he waited outside, she would find someone to fall in with - often Rise.

 _Oh man. Rise._

Who was utterly convinced that Kanji "had done something" (which, yes, he had, but not like that), or that "Naoto had forced him to do things" (which, yes, also wasn't all that wrong), both assumptions leading to more than one interrogation by the idol. Who needed to learn from Naoto if that was the best she could throw at him. There had been pouts and sulks, there had been baseless threats of locking him and Naoto up in a classroom one day, there had been all kinds of "I'll just ask Naoto", which he knew would lead to less than what she could gain from him.

In short, things had grown so weird that he was starting to wish he had never gone to that beach outing; never seen Naoto in any of the bathing suits and much less ever seen her... like... like that... like... in the water.

He just wanted to talk to her. Fix what happened. He wasn't exactly sure what had happened that changed her overnight or why, but he felt he needed to apologize. He had been possibly the one with the clearer head. He should have refused her. Taken her back to her tent... anything other than what they had done.

He was woken up the next day by someone rustling through the trash near his tent. Thinking at first it was a some _thing_ , he grabbed his sweat pants and backpack, ready to whack it at some animal, but stopped when he heard a very human voice seemingly whisper to themselves.

Listening closely, he heard it was Naoto. She had said she would find out who had spiked their drinks, but that was before... well, before. Had she still wanted to check?

He drifted back to sleep shortly after as things grew quiet again. And had a weird fuckin' nightmare of Naoto trying to interrogate him. When he started up from his cot, he realized his barely asleep / barely awake mind had picked up her voice. Low. Threatening.

"Teddie-kun, this is highly illegal. I could be in my rights to call in for an official investigation."

"Na-Nao-chan, really, I didn't have anything to do with-"

"Then _who_ , Teddie? Who would think it is funny to feed alcohol to underaged students?"

"M-Maybe someone came along and-"

"Teddie- _kun_." Kanji actually remembered his shudder at the threat in her voice.

"I-It was only a little bit. She promised, she would not hurt you. Said you needed help..."

"Who? Help with what?"

"...Kanji-kun." Who was now all ears. "She said, Rise-chan said, that Kanji wants to sparkle at you, Nao-chan, but he does not know how and this would help and _please stop squeezing my arm_ , _owie_!"

She must have left after that. He had briefly wondered what on earth the dumb bear meant with sparkles, but hearing Naoto hiss " _Rise-san_ " made him simply crawl back into this sleeping bag and pray things would blow over. There was a beat of silence, then a relieved sigh from Teddie, who then muttered, "Kuma?"

It somehow did blow over; Rise and Naoto seemed on good terms. Unlike Naoto and himself. While that hurt, he could deal with it. At least she was doing better.

But the worst of it all? The absolute worst?

The nights since then.

He's had his share of dreams about his crush, what teen wouldn't, damnit? But now it was worse. Now he KNEW, and his brain could pull from his memory the _actual_ feel of her skin; the _actual_ sound of her voice, dark and raspy; the _actual_ way she would move against him. It shamelessly and excessively did. More often than not he woke himself up in the middle of the night panting and exhausted. Utterly unable to look anywhere in her general direction the next morning, though she'd possibly not even notice that.

Sometimes, when the dreams were not explicit, it was even worse.

He would simply dream of holding her. Maybe kiss her, maybe not. But he would feel her hand on his shoulder, her thumb stroking small, idle circles against his skin, just like when... He'd hold her, or simply rest beside her. He'd talk or they would be silent. And he would wake up with an ache in his chest so unbearably deep he caught himself sobbing out loud once or twice.

The rejection in her actions was what made all of this worse than just awkward. That he could have dealt with. But the _rejection_ , even after she had promised... but maybe she really had still been drunk.

Rokuten had no more help to offer. If his silence was disapproval or helplessness, either way was fine with him. He couldn't face his true self or listen to any of his macho-speech right now.

If he was honest with himself, all he wanted to do was fall back to what he had been doing before. Just skip school. Give up on it. He wasn't smart enough anyhow, and Naoto would certainly not offer any help in that regard any longer. Rise was barely passing herself, so why bother? She also was out a lot more since the summer, working small gigs here and there to get her name back into people's minds.

Still he went through the motions every morning. Got up. Washed. Made breakfast for himself and ma. Lurch through town, past the river bank, up the hill. Took off his shoes, his eyes to the floor, shuffle into class, sit and shut up.

This morning when he closed the shop door behind himself Rise stood outside, waiting for him. "Mornin', Rise." He locked up and started to walk.

She walked with him, but neither spoke. As they reached the river bank, he held out his hand and she handed him her bags. She had jokingly called him her body guard more than once, and he kind of was. Guys would walk over to her, and she would give Kanji her sparkly smiles, fawning all over him, making sure anyone could see that she had an interest of some sort. Sometimes she wrapped herself in his arms, too, and while he had protested at first, he noticed that it gave her confidence to simply appear "taken" now and then. So, he let her, not thinking much of it.

This morning turned out like many in the last two weeks had. "You look tired, Kanji," she said softly. "Like, your hair is barely styled and your eyes are all red." She paused. "Again."

Kanji had no comment for the interview. Sure, he had dyed his hair black for a while, trying to break his punk image, but then given up on that after too much teasing from his friends. Right now he had a dark shadow under his blonde hair, the black slowly growing back in over the last four weeks. He didn't much care either way. His image was shot with the people that mattered to him, so he let it be cut to make sure it sat somewhat okay for the store, but neither bleached nor dyed it. _Stuck between what I want to be and what I am. 'm sure there's somethin' deep waitin' behind all that shit._

"And I think you're losing weight, too. I brought a big bento today, maybe we can go to the roof and eat together?"

He simply put one foot in front of the other. She would give up. She always did, sooner or later.

Today would be later it seemed. "Kanji," she nearly whispered, "what happened that night? I know you were the last ones to go to bed. I know you walked her to her tent. I know you-" she stopped when he stiffened, "...well. And I know you left right after that. But then? What happened?"

"Ya know as much as I do then."

"Don't give me that, Kanji! Naoto is even worse. If I mention you, she gets this... really creepy... stare." She was watching him, he knew. _Watching to see what I'll do. What I'll ask. I'm not biting, idol. I'll not be interrogated by you; I've learned to deal with a professional._ "And she keeps taking my questions about you and just turns them around to me. I never knew you could do _akido_ verbally!"

"Do we have first class together?"

"What? No."

"Okay. You might wanna take your bag then and head on in. I need some more fresh air." He stopped, looked directly at her and held her bag out to her.

She looked like she wanted to keep pushing, but he simply gave her a cool, distanced look. She took her bag, stepped closer to give him a tight, warm hug and whisper against his chest, "I wanna help you, Moronji."

He conceded. "I know, Rise. Thanks. M-Maybe Naoto will need your help. I ain't ... 'm fine."

She huffed. " _I am fine_. You sound like her now, too." She slowly let go, stepping away and turned.

They both looked up to see Naoto watching them from the entrance gates, her face unreadable. The moment she noticed them watching her, she whirled around and marched into the school building, Rise running after her.

 _Help her, Rise. I don't care why she won't speak to me anymore. If I did go too far, I'll happily have you both on my bad side. But don't let her be alone again. Not after having been alone most of her life already..._

* * *

Naoto halted as she saw him. He looked down on their friend Rise, who had, as so often, thrown herself at him, her hug tight against his waist.

 _Did we look like that...?_

She swallowed the wave of jealousy washing over her. It had taken her a full week to identify the feeling, but now that she understood it, she hated it. Hated the bitter thoughts that came with it. Hated the unbearable tightness in her chest and gut. Hated herself for allowing it. But most of all... most of all hated the situation as a whole, for it lacked all logic and professionalism.

The last four weeks had been... troublesome.

It started with waking up in her tent, feeling chilled. The sun had barely risen and she felt oddly exhausted but heavy with a certain feeling of emotional warmth and contentment.

Once the glow of just waking up had worn off, however, she understood each of the feelings and her eager mind jumped to pointing out to her exactly what the status was.

She was naked. The chill was a direct lack of clothing.

She was naked, because of her late-night encounter with Kanji.

She also felt the emotional glow thanks to that very same encounter and the... things that had come with it. Her mind balked whenever she tried to put actual words to it, though she had struggled to do so countless times since.

She hurriedly dressed while still trying to puzzle together how things had cumulated in that fashion.

Then she remembered the faint scent of alcohol on their breaths and her promise to Kanji to find out how it had happened and why. She rose, stopping briefly outside her tent to watch the last few wisps of pink being banished from the sky.

Determination took her straight to the coolers. The junior detective hunkered down, opening each bottle, giving it a sniff, pouring a small amount into a cup and carefully tasting it. It seemed the ingredients had not been tampered with.

Next she opened the trash bag and gazed in. She tried to rummage, remembered a few sharp objects and instead started to apply her forensic training. Using a second trash bag, she carried each piece of trash over into the new bag after inspecting it.

At the very bottom of the bag, she found a small, thick-walled glass bottle with a medicinal label on it. Gingerly opening it, she took a sniff. It absolutely was alcohol. She poured a bit out over her hand and watched how swiftly it evaporated from the warmth of her skin. _Not medicinal ethanol, either._

There were only a few of her friends who would go this far. And her immediate two suspects were Hanamura-senpai and Rise-san.

Hanamura had been mixing drinks, but accompanied by Chie. Who, studying to be involved in upholding the law, was unlikely to feed her underaged underclassmen alcohol.

 _Rise-san._

But why?

She had tried to get her to admit to it that day, several times, but Rise could be harder to nail down than a flan. Naoto ended up finding out nothing, aside from her and Kanji apparently having been the only ones who received spiked drinks last night, and learned from a very scared Teddie that Rise had indeed been involved.

The following weeks brought nothing new to light in that regard, either.

But it brought to light a lot about herself she was unable to face. She felt utterly underequipped to sort through the messy ball of emotion she felt whenever she allowed herself to recollect that night, the feel of the water and … and his hands on her body. _Inside of her body._ The same ball of confusion that tried to swallow her that morning loomed again whenever she just looked at him now.

One thing she noticed fairly swiftly was that looking at him now caused previously unexperienced rushes of adrenaline and absolute fight-or-flight responses. Her hands grew uncomfortably moist, her heart started to thunder, her breath caught. Worse, if their eyes met, she would hesitate over walking up to him and running as fast as she could before her legs finally responded. Often, thankfully, he solved the dilemma by turning away from her.

She found herself unable to put into words what happened, how she felt about it or anything that surrounded this... this entire matter. Not knowing what to say for the pure lack of words to express her emotions was new. And it was worrying.

Worse. Her academics started to suffer. Being in class with him could lead her to letting her mind drift. She had underperformed in a recent test, barely clinging to the top spot amongst her peers. A previously swift victory would be a struggle to achieve now. She had to spend more time reviewing material on her own and even more time doing that as her mind kept wandering.

Rise caught up to her after leaving Kanji's side. Typically, she would need to brace herself for the idol would wrap her up in hugs and taunt her, trying her best to make the cute detective prince blush. She had stopped these interactions some few days after they had returned from the beach. Now, her friend just walked beside her quietly. They entered the building, slipped off their shoes and got ready for class. The walk up to the second floor was a quiet one.

Rise stopped beside Naoto's desk and spoke up quietly, not looking at her. "He's not doing well; you know?" Naoto hesitated snapping the locks on her bag open, then simply continued to take out her composition books. "I know something happened, Naoto. I saw you two-"

"Thank you, Rise-san. You mentioned previously. As stated then, nothing happened you need to concern yourself about."

Pigtails swung around in her peripheral vision. "If he hurt you, I know some-"

"He did not cause me any harm."

"Then-"

"Please, prepare yourself for class. Kashiwagi-san has thoughts about you and me which make it imperative that we are in outstanding behaviour towards her."

Rise hesitated, then simply walked to the back of the class, two rows behind Naoto. The detective turned off her mobile phone, placed it into her desk and opened her notes and homework. Maybe today she could focus.

* * *

Another slow week crawled by. He started to dread Sundays the most. Ma kept the shop closed, there was no school and he was too torn up, confused and distracted to do anything but _remember_.

Thankfully every Sunday was followed by a Monday. Kanji spent his lunch on the roof, being talked at by Rise. Begged at to eat, too. He couldn't work up the appetite. He simply sat with her, her stream of chatter washing over him, longing to know where Naoto was and what she was doing. By the time they returned to their classroom, he had not said one word.

When final bell rang, he packed his stuff, shuffled downstairs and started to pull his shoes from his locker. As he was about to slip in, he hesitated. There was a note in his shoe. _Another dumb joke by some asshole asking him to date some guy or another._ The rumours about him liking guys had not stopped and his sometimes rather obvious interest and time spent with Naoto had made it worse, if anything.

Kanji sighed and dropped the note into his pocket. He hated them, but throwing them away here, where someone could fish them from the trash was worse.

He slipped his shoes on and stepped outside, the late summer air still very warm. Rise stood outside and caught his arm. "Kanji-kun, stop. Read it."

"Why you goin' round spyin' on me, Rise?" His typical anger was gone, he just sounded tired.

"I _spy_ on both of you, and she left the note." She dropped her hand, stepped in front of him and just gazed at him for a moment. There was something tiny and hopeful in her eyes. "You don't need to tell me. But at least read it before you leave." She turned and walked to the gates, where she stopped, turned around and obviously waited for him.

 _Did my friend the idol write this for a lark? Oh sweet Kanji, I love you so much, please be mine? Damnit, Rise..._

He put his bag down and started to unfold the paper. It wasn't Rise's handwriting. He'd gotten cards from her in the past; flowery writing, with hearts and emoji and stuff. This was not it. This was written in a handwriting that looked almost adult. Each line perfect, crisp and with purpose.

 **Kanji-kun.**

 **Rise-san has informed me that you are not faring well. I must confess that I myself am not in peak condition, either.**

 **I will be by the gazebo near the hillside this afternoon when school concludes. Perhaps you would feel inclined to meet?**

There was no signature. There didn't need to be.

Kanji folded the letter up again and numbly pocketed it. This... this meant nothing. Explained nothing, either. And Rise was waiting for him, possibly to find out more. But what, if anything, was there to say, really? Based on the dry tone and stiff formality of the letter, this would only come with even more rejection, if anything.

He simply picked up his bag and left through the gates, not looking at Rise.

She fell in beside him and he shorted his steps a bit. There was such a thing as manners.

"So?"

"So what so?"

"Did Naoto-kun explain anything?"

"No."

"What did she say?"

"She told me she's not doin' well."

"Oh." Silence. Then, "And what else?"

"That ya told her I'm not doin' well." He turned his head a little, looking down at her.

Rise puffed up defensively. "Seriously, I only said out loud what everyone was plainly able to see!"

He shrugged and turned back.

They trudged on. Finally, Rise whined, "What _else_ did she say, Kanji? Don't make me ask for every single sentence!"

He stopped, grunted and dug the paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it fully, flashed it at her with a shaky hand and growled, "And nothing. See? It's two sentences!" He folded it up and stuffed it back in his pocket.

Rise bit her lip, her eyes glistening.

"Shit... sorry, Rise, shouldn'a have yelled, I... I just..."

She hugged him tightly and he felt her take a shuddering breath. "I... I can't stand seeing you both like this."

He patted her helplessly. "C'mere. Gimme yer bag."

He took it from her and she hugged tighter once more, then let go. "Will you really not tell me what happened? I wanna help."

"'s nothin' ya'd be able ta do, Rise. Jus'... Jus' leave us be, right?"

* * *

Naoto stood by the classroom window and watched her two friends leave the school grounds together. As she had grown dreadfully accustomed to, she swallowed the bitter tang of jealousy. It became easier, a little bit more each time. She just wished she could stop feeling the particular emotion altogether.

What amplified the absurdity of her jealousy was that it was fully self-inflicted. Rise would back off any young man Naoto would show sincere interest in, she knew that. Neither would Kanji allow intimate contact with anyone but a partner he selected and committed to.

But for him to commit, he would need to first know that such commitment was desired.

A fellow student snuck in behind her, possibly having forgotten something. "Don't go home too late, eh, Shirogane?"

She nodded, keeping her posture unmoving. Her hands were clasped at the base of her spine. She stood, feet slightly apart at shoulder length, stiffly, tall. In control. She needed to remain in control above all else today. She needed to make sure that whatever she was doing, saying, whatever he might bring up, she remained in control.

Writing the note she slipped into Kanji's locker had taken about two weeks and countless, countless attempts. She needed to explain herself. Needed to ask his forgiveness. Needed to explain what had happened... needed to stop feeling so vulnerable, needed to stop feeling like looking at him was akin to grabbing her heart and squeezing it roughly.

 _itwillbeallright_

 _'I wish I was as optimistic as you, Yamato-san.'_

 _youarebecauseiamyouyouhavenothingtofear_

 _'And what if he rejects me? What if my actions that night have damaged our relationship beyond all repair?_

 _jumpingtoconclusionsbadbadneedtostopneedtogatherevidence_

Gather evidence. He was right, of course. Jumping to conclusions was not how one could form a valid hypothesis, much less how to zero in on a case.

She could not help the frown that slowly returned to her face.

The ball was in her court. It had been since that next morning, really, when she realized just what she'd done.

Kanji-kun was a gentle, sensitive young man. He would never have even considered doing any of the things she had demanded without her directive on the matter. Indeed, he had tried to refuse her - more than once! - and she had simply marched on, regardless of his feelings. All due to stupid, unforgiveable, teenaged, hormonal ... _drive_.

 _What right do I have to ask for his forgiveness? I have seen him these past few weeks. He is not his normal self any longer. If anything, he is fragile now._ Fragile! _Now there is a word I never used in regards to him..._

And Rise... she could not admit to her what she had done. It was impossible. She could not tell her, even if the alcohol had been introduced by her into this mess; could not admit that she had forced herself on Kanji in the manner she had.

But if she was lucky, if there was a chance in all of this, she could mend their friendship.

The new, frightening emotions that crept into her for the last month could be eradicated after that.

* * *

He took Rise home. Walked to his place, dropped off his bag, washed his face, styled up his hair a bit and put on a clean shirt. Maybe this wasn't a date, but if Kanji was being dumped by his totally-not-girlfriend, he'd at least look presentable.

 _How could I let this happen? It was crystal clear that Naoto was not herself that night. She had not been since before... well. When they sat by the fire, like. She'd been... loosened? Was that a word to use here? She was chatty. She was laughin'. She kept inviting me to sit close. And like an absolute tool I took advantage of that!_

He picked out a different pair of slacks and looked himself over in the mirror. He wasn't sure what he should see, but all he saw was a hulking young man who had easily overpowered Naoto. Yea, sure, she had offered... pushed, really. But wasn't he the one with the clear head? He shouldn't have let her talk him into ... into any of that.

He told his ma that he was going out to meet a friend, hoping he was right in that regard, and left for the hill overlooking the small town. Kanji liked that spot, he really did. A lot of good stuff had happened up there; talking with Yuu-senpai, talking with that little kid, even hanging out with Naoto a few times previously.

Now the way up seemed more exhausting somehow. As he shuffled up the hill he felt himself less and less confident. His steps slowed down more and more and by the time he could see the gazebo in the distance, his heart tried to climb out through his throat. He frowned and looked down. If Naoto was already there he didn't want to see her already. Else, he knew, he might just turn and run.

 _Why be scared? She's pretty much rejected you already in these last five weeks. At least now she'll tell you what's going on an' yer able to close the book on her. Maybe. Hopefully... damnit._

He had stopped, looking at his feet. His treacherous brain made him remember the whole of the beach trip fast-forward. How Naoto had grown relaxed. How easy and warm her smile was. How her hand felt touching his, holding his gently. How it felt having her hold him by the waist. Her thumb stroking his shoulder. Their kiss. The second kiss. Everything that happened in the water.

His eyes stung. He lifted his hand to roughly brush at the forming tears and groaned softly.

And when he looked up, he saw her standing in front of the gazebo, watching him, one hand raised to her mouth.

If the ache hadn't been there before, it hit him now. She looked different, and still the same. She was still in her school uniform's shirt and pants. Wore her cap. He saw her bag sitting on the bench behind her under the gazebo. Everything about her was clean and orderly and so very _Shirogane_.

It clashed with the image dug into his brain now, of her in a bathing suit, her hair tussled - or, worse, naked, her hair wet and slicked back.

But that Naoto was gone, possibly for good. He should not have taken advantage of her, damnit, and now he paid for it.

He squared his shoulders and marched himself towards her. _Let's just get this over with._

He stopped before her, fighting the urge to look away. "Sup?"

"Hello, Kanji-kun. Thank you for coming out here." Her voice was as it had been before the beach party. Low. Slightly aloof. Slightly detached. Cool.

He shrugged.

"Let us have a seat. Maybe we should... talk for a bit."

He simply stared at her. He didn't mean to. But this was the closest he had been to her in a month and ... _She's just so... lovely. Even like this. She would be in her thickest winter clothes, too._

"Ya. Sure."

She gestured to the table and sat herself at one end of the bench. He crossed over and sat opposite her, the table as a silent safe zone between them. She looked back to where he had arrived from, looked around as if she expected someone to be watching them. Then turned her attention of him.

Something told him the building silence should feel uncomfortable, that it needed to be filled with something. But as he slowly let his eyes wander over her, he noticed her doing the very same.

It was somewhat frightening to see her like this.

Her formal and very stiff Shirogane appearance was up. She sat straight, her face was a cool mask of pure competence and control. But if he were allowed to just watch closely, he could see the darkness around her eyes, making the steel-blue stand out bright and slightly glossy. Her skin was always pale, but there was not even a hint of a healthy sheen anywhere on her face. Her cheek bones showed a little clearer than they had, a little tight under her skin. And while her eyes wandered his face, he would see the muscle in her jaw tighten reflexively over and over, as if she were chewing on the words she wanted to say to him.

He had expected her to continue to sound as cool and collected as she had when he arrived.

He did not expect her to reach across and place her fingertips on his wrist. Nor did he expect her voice to be a soft, rather feminine pitch. "Rise was correct in alerting me to your status. You... you look rather dreadful, Kanji-kun." Her eyes searched over his face a moment longer, then she looked at her hand and jerked it back. "My apologies."

He made a sound somewhere between confirmation and denial of her apology. His eyes looked down at his wrist. The light pressure of her fingertips somehow stayed behind. As if she were still touching him. "s'okay." He grabbed his wrist and rubbed it, trying to shake off the feeling of loss.

She tilted her head, as if she tried to see something he had just tilted away. When he lifted his head, she seemed to subconsciously bite her lip and reach for him. She flushed, looked at the table and whispered. "I _am_ sorry."

"No, you did nuthin ... ya don't need ta be sorry, Naoto. I... I'm sorry."

She looked up at him in confusion. "What for?"

"You know... when... I, I shoulda just... I shoulda stopped it." He frowned at the table, feeling his eyes sting. _Might as well come clean now._ "You were right, see? We were drunk. An' I think I was doin' better than you. I shoulda realized ya didn't want ta-"

Her hand returned and she injected sharply, "Stop."

Kanji shook his head. "No, damnit, _no_ , Naoto, please, just, please let me... if ya hate me, that's bad enough but let me at least try ta-"

" _No_ , Kanji-kun!" As she interrupted him again, a sob ledged in his throat. _Won't she even let me tell her how sorry I am, damnit?_ "I will not let you take this, when, clearly, I was the guilty party."

Both stopped then, staring at one another. She shifted her hand, grabbing his tightly. Her voice was soft again, desperate the urgency it held. "I should not have forced my desires onto you. In my selfish act of ... drive..." Her voice tapered off and she pinched her eyes shut. "It should have been clear I overpowered you and forced a behaviour unto you which you did not desire at the time."

Kanji sat across from her and blinked, trying hard to keep up with her. Just about half of what she said made no sense, but he puzzled together 'don't apologize', 'I need to be sorry' and, worst, 'you did not want what happened'. "Naoto. I wanted it. Dear gods, I wanted all of it. I would have wanted _everything_..." His jaw snapped shut and he pinched his eyes shut for a moment. Opening his eyes with a deep breath he continued, "Ya did nothing I wasn't a very willing partner in."

She looked in his eyes, her own slowly widening. He slowly flipped over his hand, gave hers a small squeeze... and pulled back. Naoto didn't like showing any affection in public, and he would not use her apology to soak in it, no matter how much he wanted to.

Near his fingers was a small hole where a branch had fallen from the wood of the board. It must have been a while ago, the edge was rounded and worn. He poked at it. "Yer not doin' good yerself."

"Doing well."

"Mhm?"

She 'tch'ed and frowned at the table. "I apologize. Nothing. You were saying?"

"Like... you've been sick or somethin'. You look like ya lost weight."

Her answer was the tight line her mouth turned into as she pressed her lips together, hard.

Kanji gave her a worried and hurt look. "Ya need to eat, Naoto. You'll really get sick, ya know? Promise me?" When she didn't reply, he huffed a small laugh, rubbed his neck and added, "Else ya get me all worried and I'll hafta show up at your place to feed ya."

The expression on her face changed. She slowly looked up at him, an odd warmth creeping into the look she gave him. "You'd still do that for me?"

"H-Hell yeah? Ya... ya asked me ta show ya how to cook, right? If-If ya still want me ta..." Kanji fiddled with the knothole, picking at the rounded edges. _If you can forgive me, I'll do anything. I'll run your damn household to make sure you are safe and cared for. I'll come and cook and I'll do it all just to watch you and maybe see you smile again like... like when we talked at the beach._ He grunted and poked at the board. _Dream on._

Silence returned. He kept himself busy with the board, seemingly fascinated with the worn knothole.

"I would very much appreciate that, Kanji-kun." He looked up, confused at her slightly muffled voice. He noticed her holding one hand to her mouth, her eyes glistening, almost as if... _na_. She dropped her hand, her voice returning to her firmer tone and lower range. "There is, in fact, more we should discuss. A more private setting would be preferable." She glanced away, and Kanji saw her hands fidget with one another. "I very much desire that I can make amends and that our friendship is restored." Her fingers then laced, folded hard, her knuckles standing out nearly white. She straightened, looking at him as if to demand a duel and added, "I have found it undesirable to lack your companionship in this past month, Kanji-kun. There must be a solution to the dilemma of our actions and the situation needs to be corrected."

He felt his eyes slowly watering. _If she's that wordy... she must be feelin' like her normal self again._ "I missed ya, too."

She flushed and tilted her head down, the rim of her cap hiding her face from him. "Yes. Well."

He rubbed his eyes, _can't let her seem me cry_ , and added, "So what would ya like ta do? I can come over and show you some basic stuff? Maybe make a bento together, show you a few easy things so ya can get some good food squared for the week?"

Her cap bounced in a nod. From below the rim he heard her say, "That is acceptable. Would Sunday around noon work for you? That should give us both ample time to prepare."

"Na, don' worry 'bout it, I'll bring all we need. We'll take it easy and I'll show ya how to store stuff, too. Makin' bentos in advance is a good idea."

She nodded again, lifting her head. "I will not let this chance go to waste."

While he was unsure what she meant by that, he just gave her a nod.

They spend some time after that, randomly talking about school, upcoming tests and the planned school outing later in the year. They also briefly spoke of Rise, deciding that they would both let her know that 'relations have begun to normalize', which Kanji assumed was Shirogane for 'Don't worry, we started talkin' again'.

* * *

"That's _great_!"

"Ngh, Rise, keep it down. Geez." Kanji hid his face in his hands. He should have known when Naoto was all suspicious before she left. It took a grand total of a minute before Rise rushed out at him from gods-know-where and demanded to know what they spoke of and for how long and what happened and how she wasn't able to see much and _oh my god, a date_?!

He stared across the picnic table under the gazebo at the idol. "'s not a damned date. You know very well that Naoto and I used to hang out and study all the time before-" he stopped to give her a glare, "- before you meddled."

" _Hey!_ I didn't meddle, I just-"

"Rise. As my friend. As hers. Stop. Getting. Involved." He jabbed a finger in her direction. "I mean it. Last time went way, way too far-"

"I know…"

"-and the result was that she didn't even wanna talk to me for a month. Let _me_ fix this."

Rise sulked at him, laying it on so thick he knew it was at least in part fake. "You are just so… so…"

Kanji cracked his knuckles and raised an eyebrow at their friend.

"Okay, okay, geez, Moronji, fine. But…"

Another creak as he stretched out his arms.

"Just listen! Naoto will run if she gets scared. It's what she does, it's what keeps her safe. She will dodge, she will run, she will try to get away. There is only one thing that can stop her then. Call her out on it. The moment you do, she will turn and fight to defend her image. You know. Her pride?"

He looked at her, puzzled, as she leaned in to pet his hand and got up from the bench. "What's that even mean?"

"Just, promise me? Just remember what I just said." With that, she turned and left him alone by the gazebo, pondering.


	7. Piña Colada

_Here it is. The conclusion of a throwaway joke that by all rights could have been maybe 15k words. Beware the plot bunnies, folks. Ikasury: You're awesome. Thanks. This was so much fun ^^_

crazycarl364 _\- Yes, Naoto isn't ashamed, although she's something way, way worse... for a Shirogane. Also, I could waffle on and on about Kanji's hairstyle changes. Folks can PM me if curious on the matter. ^^ _

* * *

_**Another update: As we have had some troubles with bullies pushing people about the contents of their stories - I am removing a lot of stuff on FFN as a reaction. If you wonder where to find my stories in full form: Archive of Our Own has a WishStone account as well.**_

* * *

 _ **Piña Colada**_

Ingredients (makes one cocktail)

* 60 ml white rum

* 30 ml coconut cream

* 90 ml pineapple juice

* 1 cup crushed ice

* Pineapple wedge

* * *

Naoto sat on her bed, fighting a veritable hurricane of emotions. So far she had cried, giggled, paced while ranting angrily and drowned in all of it so much she just blanked for a while. Rinse, shuffle, repeat.

Right now she had her legs pulled up so tightly her chin rested on her knees, frowning at the repeated explosions of butterflies in the very pit of her stomach. Every time her thoughts dared to edge towards Kanji-kun they swarmed back. And if she managed to hold on to prepare the things she needed to tell him and everything she needed to explain, her heart felt like it got squeezed in a vice and dropped from her chest.

She had, of course, correctly identified her reactions. They were a pure fight-or-flight mechanism. As much as she hated to admit it, she was afraid of what would happen in about two hours' time, when Kanji arrived. She was afraid that what needed saying might end up ending their friendship. Maybe he had not yet fully understood and rationalized what had happened, but she had, and she knew she needed to make amends. But... how?

It isn't exactly as if she had previous experience in this. Forming a coherent apology was difficult enough and she had in the past been unable to clearly convey her intent when trying to deliver apologies. And this now? She had _never_ before forced herself onto anyone. _Correction, I have never in a_ _ **sensual**_ _way forced myself on anyone._ She flushed furiously at her own thought, the image of Kanji crept up and the explosion of butterflies happened like clockwork.

Naoto pinched her eyes shut and she sobbed out once quietly, allowing herself to admit the pain she felt again that moment. In all of her planning, she fought hardest to ignore that pain. That longing. It needed to stop. She had to conclude this today.

The encounter that night at the beach had caused a lot of things. While it had undoubtedly unlocked her baser physical desires, it seemed to have also unlocked a need for companionship she had previously thought preposterous. It was more than needing the time spent at school to share a meal with her friends. It was the silent and painful longing of quiet togetherness with someone else. And the only someone that seemed to fit into the empty space was a bleach-blonde young man.

Jumping up, she began to quietly pace her apartment again, muttering at herself. A nervous hand jerked to her collar and opened the top button, the tightness she felt in her breathing not lessened by the action. She did her best to ignore the steady assault her body tried to push against her and rehearsed the speech she needed to present. Her apology. Her request for forgiveness. Her explanation how their friendship was precious and needed. How this situation forced a strain on the group dynamic.

Yamato-Takeru tried a few times to make himself heard, but she deflected him. Naoto was never quite sure if he was actually trying to be helpful or feeling like being an annoyance, and right now, she could not allow herself to be distracted.

The knock on the front door made her spin on her heel and march to it. Possibly another case file sent via courier or something. Good. That could help steady her nerves.

She swung open the door and gave her best professional stare to... Kanji Tatsumi.

He shifted his feet while her surprised look took in all of him. His black slacks, the purple tank-top, a large shopping bag looped over one shoulder. He actually wore his glasses today, she noticed, and his hair, half-bleached, half black, looked orderly and barely slicked down with his general over-abundance of gel.

The stare died and melted into an expression of startled surprise. "Kanji-kun? Oh dear, what time is it? I-"

"I'm sorry, Naoto... it's not even eleven yet. I, kinda, didn't wanna wait any longer so I got up, went shoppin' and then came out here and it turned out to be way, way earlier than I had thought it would be." He stopped to swallow hard. "Er..."

He shuffled his feet, looking down the hallway uncertainly. She in turn watched his every move with a deep thirst for more. When he looked back and their gazes connected, it took her frantic logic a moment to catch up and kick her into action. Her manners clicked into position and she stepped aside to let him in. "I'm sorry, please, come, come on inside. We can put everything in the kitchen for now." She opened the door for him and let him walk past her. "And maybe we could have some tea first? It might be good to ... reconnect a while. It has been some time since we spoke. Truly spoke."

Walking behind him stirred the air and carried what she knew was his scent. The mildly acidic scent of Tatsumi Textiles and its dyes, the warm scent of fresh laundry, his soaps and something else. Something deeper, underneath it all. Something strong and very masculine.

She stopped, pinched her eyes shut and leaned against the opening in the short hallway to the living area. _I need to stop thinking like this. What on earth is wrong with me? Kanji-kun is my friend. My_ friend _. I cannot keep trying to jeopardize that with the sheer stupidity of my rather startlingly awake hormones!_

"Naoto?" Looking up, she saw Kanji poke his head out of the open door frame into the kitchen. "Ya okay? Yer a lill' pale. Go on, sit down, I'll make the tea."

"N-No!" She realized that was too loud the moment her shocked brain had fed her the correct reaction. "No, Kanji-kun, you are my guest, I-"

"Yer nearly white as a sheet, Naoto." He gave her one of his easy, warm smiles. "Go on, sit your butt down. I'll be out in a few with the tea. Been here before, I know my way 'round. Right?"

Naoto eyed him a long moment, unsure of herself. Unsure how it made her feel to have him take care of her so, when she had yet to fully explain the problem. But his smile slowly turned into a stubborn glower, so she nodded her acquiescence and turned to the second of the three openings in the hallway, headed for her living area.

As she knelt down beside her coffee table, settling slowly back on her heels she noticed her body not being as still as it would normally be. She felt her heart thundering hard enough she actually swayed slowly in her seated position. _Unacceptable!_ She glowered, shut her eyes tightly and held on to the table with both hands. _This is my home. I am in full control here. I have no reason to assume Kanji-kun has any ill will towards me. None of our previous encounters have left me so-_

 _whydoyoukeeptellinglies_

 _'Yamato-san, you are not being helpful.'_

 _andyoureabadliarNaoto-sanyouknowyoufeltaroundhimlikethisbefore_

 _'That trip was a mistake'_

 _stillfeltgood_

She utterly hated it when he was correct. It _had_ felt good. It had felt way, way too good. It confused her to remember anything that happened after she had donned the bathing suit that Chie lent her and Kanji held her by the waist for the first time.

Her posture changed, her hands now bracing her against the table, her breathing shallow, her heart racing as if it wanted to keep up with the images her mind pulled forth; each one prominently featuring the young tailor.

Biting her bottom lip, she tried to beg whatever force kept pulling forth these images to cease; urged her mind to cooperate, tried to bring the wild horses of her thoughts to heel and let her repair the damage caused, not increase it.

"Na-! Naoto!"

Her eyes snapped up to stare at her hands shivering on the table and Kanji all but dropping the tray holding tea and cups in his rush to get to her side. _Not this... anything but-_

His hands gently closed on a shaking hand and her shoulder, causing the shiver to grow. "You not feelin' well, Naoto? Damn, if yer sick, ya shoulda called, I'd have skipped botherin' ya."

Not trusting her hands or her voice, she lifted her shoulder, leaned over and closed her eyes while pressing her cheek against his knuckles. And there it was. The soothing. The calming presence she had so desperately missed this past month.

If she had to be honest - and Yamato-Takeru claimed that honesty without asking leave - she had enjoyed the benefits of his steady presence in her life for longer than just during the camping trip to the beach. If no one riled him up, he was a deep, calm, soothing pool of strength and power. Being near him doused fires of exhaustion, frustration or urgency in general, especially the ones she did not allow herself to presently feel. Many a lull in combat in the TV world or during study sessions at Junes, her home or his would trail off into long stretches of silence, in which she simply enjoyed to not needing to be a girl, or a boy, or the detective prince, or the valedictorian of her grade, or the heir to the Shirogane name... Around Kanji, she could simply _be._ No demands. No requirements.

It felt like a place to call home.

"I am quite alright, Kanji-kun. Thank you for your concern." She sat up straight again, giving him a small smile. "I apologize for worrying you."

"Hey, 's your home, your rules, right? ...ya sure yer okay?"

"Positive."

"Well, okay." He released her, and she noticed the vanishing warmth in a way she had thought impossible six to seven weeks ago.

It was even stranger to see how carefully he turned his attention to the tea. He checked the colour and taste by pouring a small splash into his own cup before removing the leaves with the small tea strainer. As Naoto was about to rise and take over pouring, she froze when she saw him pick up her cup, pour formally and present the cup to her.

When she didn't pick it up, he gave her a confused frown. "Too-Too weak? I can put the tea back in if ya-"

"Y-You poured."

"Well, ya. You wanna take this, please? It's gettin' kinda warm..."

She took the cup from him, making sure to not brush against him. "But... the host or the woman pours..."

He snorted. "Whatever, the _kohai_ can pour, too, an' yer older'n me. It works."

He poured his own, gently blew over the cup and took the first ginger sips. "Mmm. This stuff is good. I love _genmaicha_."

She hadn't moved at all yet. Her gaze was glued to him, the movements his muscles made, visible under his tank top, the small, unguarded smile of pleasure at the tea he picked, the precise, gentle motions. She wanted to keep drinking in these images. She wanted to drown herself in his being.

Something in her brain kicked her for being sappy and she dropped her gaze into her own cup, blew on the hot surface and downed the tea nearly in one go. At least this allowed her to hide her face, if only for a moment, and hopefully allowed to shift blame to the hot steam for the blush she felt creeping on.

Kanji peered at her cup, slid a little closer to her and refilled it. Again he handed it to her formally, and again she took it but this time only lifted it to her lips in the same formal motions, replying to his formality before setting it down.

"Forgive me, I do not mean to sound callous... your mannerisms when serving tea are outstanding. Though oddly feminine,"

He coughed into his mug, barely preventing a spill of the hot liquid before putting the mug down. "I... WHAT?!"

She raised both of her hands up defensively. "I mean no offence!"

"Ya...!" He squeezed his eyes shut, placed both fists on his knees and took a shaky breath. "Heh. Sorry, Naoto. What did you call it? A shooting phrase?"

"Trigger word?"

"Yeah, that. Thought ya meant I was bein' girly. See... A man can serve his w- can serve his _friends_ , too!" He seemed to swallow a word and replace it mid-sentence but his blush, unbidden, distracted her. "An, well, Ma taught me. Sometimes yer entertainin' important people in the shop, see? Or ya might see a couple buying their wedding outfits. Or ya need ter impress fer some other reason. 's good stuff ta know, right?"

"So you are trying to impress me with your manners?" The smirk on her face froze as swiftly as his expression did. _WHAT?!_ "...hah, I am, of course, joking, Kanji-kun."

He gave her a deadpan stare. "Wouldn't be bad if I tried ta impress ya, right?"

Her already forced smile vanished. "You are most impressive, Kanji-kun. You generally are leaving vast impressions on me." She bit her lip, caging her tongue before it tried to betray her even more.

He nodded, looking pleased. "Good. Right!" He drained his cup and smiled as he poured himself more. Placing his cup back down, he smiled at her warmly. "Ya look better. Got some sleep the last few days, eh?"

She nodded. Had she shifted closer, or had he moved? "Yes, thank you. After our talk I walked through the town a while and when I came home, I actually fell asleep rather swiftly. If not for my alarm on my phone being automatically set for school days, I am certain I would have overslept."

Seeing he had noticed and must have looked her over to do so, she allowed herself to let her eyes run over him. He had leaned forward now, his bare arms crossed, elbows resting on the table. His eyes looked clear and warm and the general air of exhaustion around him was gone.

"You look much better as well, Kanji-kun."

"Yeah, well... thanks to you, right?"

"Beg pardon?"

"Well..." he shifted, closing his eyes. "Ya forgave me, right?"

"For- Kanji-kun, I stated numerous times now, you did not need to ask for forgiveness. I was the one pushing things."

"And, damnit, I told ya, I _wanted_... things." His eyes snapped open and he turned to lean into her. "Sure, ya offered, but don't think I couldn't have held back if I wanted!"

It must have been the butterflies. They exploded in her gut and fled up into her arms and in a heartbeat those wrapped around his neck and Naoto buried her face against his collar bone, inhaling, drowning herself in his clean scent, kissing his shoulder, his neck, pulling herself into his lap, her face pressed against him, slowly creeping up, rubbing herself on him like a kitten. His hands locked around her and he crushed her into a hug.

She stopped herself, logic fighting impulse, as she exhaled with a shiver beside his ear. His lips rested near her own and they simply clutched one another close. She breathed heavily, "I..."

"Thank you." He hugged her tighter. "I know ya hate huggin' and stuff. Thank you."

She shivered again, feeling the logical part of her melt under his warm embrace, melt in the hot breath against her ear. She pulled back slowly, and eyed him from up close. His eyes, so warm. The flush on his face so known. His lips...

She froze. She slowly brought one hand forward and up, running her thumb against his bottom lip slowly. "Kanji-kun... you… there was a cut here..."

As he pressed his lips together a bit to make a "Mhm?"-sound, the white line became more prominent.

"This scar... I never noticed it before."

"Ah... well..." He smirked and teasingly bit at her thumb. "That's a mark I'll have to live with, I guess. Really, a very good price to pay, all things considered."

"A mark?"

"Ya... ya got a little greedy, remember?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, she suddenly remembered. Remembered the intensity of their kisses that night. Her desire for more. Her urgency. And how, in her rush, she bit him. The taste of metal, the spark of embarrassment, the hunger in his eyes when he refused to stop... "I am so, so sorry, Kanji-kun," she whispered, her thumb gently stroking his bottom lip still.

She did not realize how she leaned in. Did not stop herself from kissing the scar, just at the lower part of his bottom lip. Didn't stop when their eyes met. And did not fight it when her hands pulled him closer and their lips gently touched.

She remembered their first kiss and as her eyes slid closed, she could imagine the blood rushing in her ears was the ocean. Could imagine the shuddering breath she felt was a breeze on her skin. Could imagine the taste of fruit juice on both of their lips.

She broke away sharply and pinched her eyes shut. _NO! I am doing it again! I am taking him along... This needs to end._ She slowly untangled herself, swearing she would not mention it if he would not. "I- … Kanji-Kun, I … I'm sorry, I am not making amends this way. Excuse me."

In the back of her mind, she heard a displeased chirp.

She slipped into her bedroom and through it into her bathroom. Splashing cool water on her face, she cursed herself to all hells. She had met demons, like Kanji's own persona, and she knew there _were_ hells. She would try to ignore what just happened and change the subject. Yes. Best option.

Returning to the hallway, she found Kanji in the kitchen, unpacking his shopping. "Ah, there ya are." He did not seem to needing to mention it. Good. She would not, either. Clean, uncomplicated. "I wasn't sure what ya have here and what not, so I also bought some plastic containers so we can store what we cook, see? So ya can make some bento in advance." She noticed how he shifted his stance a few times, seemingly distracted by something, and then straightened up properly. "I was thinking we grate up some daikon, make sweet omelette, some braised pumpkin and potato salad. Does that sound good?"

 _kissingagainsoundsgood_

 _'Yamato-san!'_

 _kissingandholdingand-_

"That sounds deliciously wholesome." She nodded, ignoring her persona trying to list out all the things that could 'sound good' right about then, wishing not for the first time there was a way to actually _kick_ him.

"G-Great! Okay, let's see, could you peel the daikon and grate it? The white thing is the grater, just rub it on that and catch the daikon in this container as it starts to grate up. I'll start boiling the potatoes and pumpkin."

Naoto liked her apartment. It was a very functional space. For one person. Her kitchen was spacious and well-equipped, but, again, designed for one occupant. She did not even have hanging cupboards over most of her counter space, just one larger one near the door and over the fridge. It could not be helped that they bumped into one another, nudged or jostled.

She had a feeling it should annoy her, but in truth, she felt thankful for it. Each small contact felt like a spark of Zio down her back, each brushing of their bodies made her remember a similar touch or shift some few weeks ago. She caught herself being in the way on purpose a few times and chided herself strongly for it.

When Kanji held her by the shoulder to gently reach around and place the knife in the sink, she repeated her earlier move of lifting her shoulder to snuggle against the back of his hand with her cheek. He resumed his work with a smile after this.

When she finished grating a large portion of the radish and placed the grater into the sink, he leaned into her boldly and kissed the top of her head, before vanishing just as swiftly. Naoto smiled as she washed her hands before cleaning the implements.

As she dried her hands, she felt a certain stillness in the air around them. Turning, she saw Kanji take off his glasses with shaky hands, dropping them to the counter and moving in on her slowly. His hands rested on her shoulders. His face leaned down towards her and she did not hesitate to tilt up her chin to receive his kiss again.

Slowly they moved to be closer. One of his hands ran down her back, holding her between her shoulder blades. One hand slowly trailed up the side of her neck, making her gasp lightly. Her own hands trailed up his body, her arms settling around his shoulders.

The kiss remained soft, gentle, only their lips slowly seeking the touch of their partners. Fingers moved gently against cheek and neck, but they stayed quiet, enjoying the moment they shared. The only thing which was not as silent, was the blood thundering in her ears and her heart trying to build enough momentum to burst free through her chest and binder and shirt and-

 _No!_

Her hands pressed on his shoulders and she pushed roughly, taking a step back, breaking them apart. Her head snapped to the side and she panted a few broken breaths. His hands moved to her sides, but he leaned back, trying to look at her face. "N-Naoto?"

 _whatareyoudoing_

"This is... this is too much, Kanji-kun... we cannot-"

"We have before. We agreed we liked it?"

"We _should_ not. We may end up damaging our friendship past any possible repair. We may end up disturbing the team's dynamics."

"We _might_ be missing out on something awesome." He sounded confused, his hands still not releasing her as he tried to catch her gaze. "Why are you running away from this?"

Naoto knew he was right. But she also knew she had many, many more good reasons to stop, here, before things ran out of control. "I am _not_ running from anything. The team- Rise might-"

"Fuck Rise." It wasn't forceful, but his curse still made her look at him with wide eyes. "Fuck her. Fuck our senpai and fuck Teddie, too." A soft hand returned to her cheek and he leaned in, holding her eyes trapped in his gaze. "Stop runnin' away from me." He waited for her to speak up, to react to his challenge. "Tell me _you_ don't feel good when we touch. Tell me _you_ don't want to be close to me. Tell me _you_ are thinking of _yourself_." His eyes shone, a hint watery. "Tell me you do not wish... Tell me _you_ want me to stop."

She whispered, "Please stop..."

"No. Mean it when you say it. Tell me it is _your_ wish..."

She swallowed, opened her mouth... and nothing happened.

Nothing happened as he moved one hand, planted it on the counter. Still trapped in his gaze, she heard him push his arm towards the sink, spilling kitchen implements, spices, the soy bottle and other utensils into it with a loud clamour.

"Tell me to stop."

* * *

...they did. So I did.


End file.
